Childhood
by cinderpelt12323
Summary: This is the life of the bohemians starting with only Mark and Roger and bringing in the others as it goes on from Pre-school to high school. The characters belong to Jonathan Larson. Rating may change in later chapters.
1. PreSchool

"RENT" preschool 4 years old. Notice- Mark can't say "camera", "broken", and sometimes can't say "shoe". Roger finds it hard to say "together" and every now and then can't say "guitar" or "wondering". April will come in in this story.  
Also the ****'s mean that time has passed.

4 year old Roger Davis was walking alongside his mother toward the door of the New York City Pre-School. When they reached the door, Mrs. Davis smiled at her only child. "Are you ready to go in Roger?" She asked him. He shrugged and nodded. She led him inside where he would be given a student ID.  
"Hello." The woman behind the counter in the main office said.  
"Hello, my son Roger is starting his first year of Pre-School." Mrs. Davis said.  
"Ah, yes. Roger Davis correct?" She asked the 4 year old. Roger nodded, but didn't speak. Then the door opened and in walked a small blond haired and blue eyed boy with glasses that looked to big for his face. His clothes fit him nicely and his ocean blue eyes took in everything around him. The boy looked at Roger for a moment, taking in the dirty blond almost brown hair that covered his ears, and the leaf-green eyes. Roger's clothes hung off him like a tent due to the fact that he was too thin to fit into anyhting very well. Roger turned back around as his mother led him into his classroom.  
"Well here you are Roger. Have fun alright Honey. Daddy will be here later to pick you up." Mrs. Davis told her son "Alright Mom." Roger said, his voice was breathy from lack of use.  
"Well, love you Roger. I'll see you later." Mrs. Davis told him, kissing him goodbye.  
"Love you too Mom." Roger walked away and went and sat down in a corner. Then the same boy he had seen earlier walked in. He tripped over a fold in the carpet and went sprawling. A few of the other kids laughed at him and told him to watch where he was going. The boy scrambled to his feet and rushed away from the group. Seconds later a kid who looked to be about 5 years old came and pushed the blond down. Roger crawled on hands and knees closer to see what was going on. The blond was trying to inch away but the older kid kept coming, pushing him and finally took his glasses and threw them on the floor so that they broke. The 5 year old left and the blond groped helplessley for his glasses. Roger crawled closer and picked up the broken glasses.  
"I found your glasses." Roger told the blond.  
"Thanks. Are they bwoken or do they still work?" The blond asked. Up close Roger could see that the blond boy was tiny. Roger was as tall as all the other kids but this little blond haired, blue eyed boy was at least a head smaller than the others.  
"Your glasses are broken. I think you could tape them to-to. Well you could use tape and fix them." Roger said. "Oh you mean tape them together?" The tiny boy asked.  
"Yeah that. How do you say that word again?" Roger said.  
"To-geth-er." He sounded it out for Roger.  
"Together?" Roger asked.  
"Yep. By the way my name's Mark Cohen. What about you?" Mark asked.  
"Roger Davis. Let's go tape your glasses together." Roger said. "You may have to help me. I can't see if I'm not wearing my glasses." Mark said.  
"Alright. Here why don't you hold my shoulder so that I can help you." Roger suggested.  
"Okay. Just tell me if I need to step up or down." Mark said.  
"Alright." Roger led Mark to the teacher. "We need tape." Roger told her.  
"Why?" The teacher asked.  
"Mark's glasses broke. We thought tape may fix them." Roger explained.  
"Okay, here's your tape." The teacher said. Roger nodded and took the tape from her.  
"Thanks." Roger took Mark over to a small chair. Roger wound the tape around the nose-peice of Mark's glasses. "Here I fixed them for you." Roger handed the glasses back to Mark and the boy put them back on his nose. "Thanks for fixing my glasses. Hey do you wanna see my camwa?" Mark asked.  
"You mean camera?" Roger said with a grin on his face.  
"I said that didn't I? Oh well. Here it is." Mark said pulling out a small Playskool camera from a backpack Roger hadn't noticed before.  
"Wow that's cool. How do you film with it?" Roger asked the blond. Mark showed Roger how the camera worked. "Hey wanna see my guita?" Roger asked the smaller boy.  
"Alright." Mark agreed.  
"I don't have it with me right now, but maybe you could come over after school today to see it." Roger suggested.  
"Okay, I'll ask my mommy when she comes to pick me up." Mark told the taller boy. Roger nodded.

When the bell rang telling the end of the school day, Roger and Mark were friends. They were walking to the door side by side with Mark carrying his camera by his side. Roger spotted his father right away and gabbed Mark's wrist and dragged Mark over to him.  
"Hi daddy. This is Mark. I was wondawing if Mark could come over for a while?" Roger asked Mr. Davis.  
"That's fine. We just need to ask Mark's parents." Mr. Davis told the two boys.  
"There's my mommy. We can ask her now!" Mark exclaimed, suddenly excited. His glasses bounced around on his nose as he jumped around for a moment. "Come on Roger!" Mark yelled and ran toward his mother, Roger followed and Mr. Davis jogged to keep the two in sight.  
"Hi mommy." Mark said as he reached Mrs. Cohen.  
"Hello Mark. Who's this?" She asked seeing Roger.  
"This is my friend Roger Davis." Mark said introducing Roger.  
"Hello Roger." Mrs. Cohen greeted.  
"Hello." "It's okay you can call me Mrs. Cohen." Mark's mother said.  
"Alright. Nice to meet you Mrs. Cohen." Roger said shyly.  
"Mommy can I go over to Roger's house for a while?" Mark asked.  
"Did Roger's parents say it was okay?" Mrs. Cohen asked.  
"Yep. So can I?" Mark asked.  
"Alright. I'll be over in an hour to pick you up." Mrs. Cohen said.  
"YES! Come on Mark!" Roger called.  
"Bye Marky! Love you!" Mrs. Cohen called after her son.  
"Love you too Mommy!" Mark called back. The two boys ran over to Mr. Davis.  
"She said Mark could come over!" Roger yelled to his father, happily.  
"Alright. Let's head home." Mr. Davis told them. They walked off down the street. Roger and Mark were walking next to each other. Mr. Davis was in front of them. When they reached the street that ran in front of Roger's apartment building, Mr. Davis held their hands to lead them across. Mark walked along with a grin on his face, and took his camera out and started filming.  
"August 23, 4:00 in the afternoon, New York time." Mark announced.  
"Mark I think you mean Eastern Standard Time." Mr. Davis told the undersized four year old.  
"Yeah. That's what I meant. So... August 23, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time." Mark announced again. He was filming everything. Roger, birds, Mr. Davis, just everything. Roger doubted that the blond ever put his camera down. From what Roger could see, Mark was going to be a filmmaker someday.  
"Mark, what do you wanna be when you grows up?" Roger asked.  
"I haven't thought about it. Mabye a movie maker." Mark replied. "What about you?"  
"I want to be a songwriter with a band and sing in front of lots of people." Roger responded, his leaf-green eyes lighting up at the very thought. "Wow maybe I could make a movie about that." Mark said. Roger nodded and watched as Mark continued filming. When they got to the door to the lobby of the building, Roger and Mark squirmed their hands free and ran to the stairs.  
"Wait for me boys!" Mr. Davis called. The two stopped with one foot on the first step. Mr. Davis grabbed the back of Roger's too big shirt and picked the boy up. Then he did the same for Mark and carried the two boys up the stairs on his shoulders. Mark yelped with delight. Roger grinned, but didn't make a sound. When they reached Roger's floor Mr. Davis set both kids on the floor and Roger seized Mark's wrist and dragged him into his room. Mark looked around at the white walls covered with what he guessed were Roger's own drawings done in black crayon.  
"Mark, this is my guita." Roger said pulling a small aucoustic guitar out from under his bed. Mark looked at the wooden guitar which like Roger's walls was covered with drawings. "Wanna hear me play?" Roger asked.  
"Sure." Mark looked for a spot to sit amongst the clutter of Roger's room. When Mark found a clear spot to sit down. Roger gently began strumming a few notes. Mark was surprised, Roger was a good player for someone so young. Roger stopped halfway through.  
"Why'd you stop?" Mark asked.  
"That's all I had so far." Roger said. Mark began clapping for the young musician. Roger bowed and Mr. Davis walked in.  
"Are you boys hungry?" He asked. Roger and Mark both nodded.  
"What do you want to eat?" Mr. Davis asked.  
"I want pizza." Roger said.  
"Yeah so do I." Mark said.  
"Do you two want anything on it?"  
"Pepperoni." Roger said in an excited voice.  
"Nothing." Mark said.  
"Alright." Mr. Davis said and he left Roger's room. Roger's face suddenly got serious and he looked around. Then he dug down under the mess of his room and managed to pull out a Playskool michraphone.  
"Do you like singing?" Roger asked the filmmaker.  
"A bit." Mark replied. Roger grinned and began singing a song from 'Sesame Street'. Mark joined in and soon both boys were running around Roger's cramped room. Roger played his guitar along with the music and Mark kept singing. Then they switched and Mark sang without the michraphone and Roger sang with it. When Mr. Davis called them down for dinner, Roger flung his guitar and it landed on his bed and Mark put the michraphone down carefully and grabbed his camera.  
"Hey boys. Are you having fun?" Mr. Davis asked them. They nodded and eagerly each took a peice of pizza. In order to keep his hair out of the way of the pizza sauce, Roger had to tie his hair back. Mark spiked his up even more than it had been. Then there was a knock on the door. Mr. Davis answered it and Mrs. Cohen walked in.  
"Mark, your mom's here." Mr. Davis told the blond. Mrs. Cohen walked into the kitchen.  
"Hi Marky." Mrs. Cohen greeted her son.  
"Can't I stay for a little bit longer Mommy?" Mark asked as he began to pout.  
"No I'm sorry Marky, but Dad needs us home so he can go to the store or else we won't be able to eat tonight." Mrs. Cohen told him gently.  
"I've already had dinner though." Mark replied pointing to the pizza.  
"Did you thank Mr. Davis for giving you two dinner?" Mrs. Cohen asked.  
"Thank you Mr. Davis. The pizza was good." Mark said.  
"You're welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed the pizza." Roger's father replied.  
"Good Marky. Now come on. Say good-bye to Roger and Mr. Davis."  
"Bye Roger. Bye Mr. Davis." Mark told them still pouting.  
"Thanks for watching him." Mrs. Cohen said to Roger's father.  
"It was no problem. Mark is easy compared to this one." Mr. Davis told her, tousling Roger's dirty blond hair.  
"Thank you. Well we must be going. Good-bye." Mrs. Cohen said.  
"Bye Mark!" Roger called after the smaller blond.  
"Good-bye Mrs. Cohen." Mr. Davis said to Mark's mother. Mark and his mother waved as they got to the door. Roger was sad to see Mark go, but he knew he would see him at school the next day.

Roger woke up early the next day. Mrs. Davis came and helped the boy get dressed for school. Roger pulled a wet comb through his dirty blond hair and pulled his bangs over his forehead. Roger ate Cap'n'Crunch for breakfast that morning. He walked out the door with a new mini guitar case. His small aucoustic guitar was inside and tuned to perfection.  
"C'mon Mommy hurry!" Roger urged his mother.  
"I'm trying Rog. What's your hurry?" Mrs. Davis asked.  
"I have a new best friend!" Roger told his mother.  
"Ah. Who is he?" Mrs. Davis asked. "His name is Mark Cohen. He came over yesterday!" Roger said.  
"Very nice little Roger." Mrs. Davis told him. Roger nodded and hurried to school. When he arrived, Mark was already there.  
"Hi Mark!" Roger called out a greeting.  
"Hey Rog." Mark called back. Roger ran to the smaller blond.  
"Mark, I brought my guita with me today. Did you bring your camera?" Roger asked.  
"My camwa almost bwoke last night, but otherwise I has it." Mark responded.  
"Cool." Roger replied. He reached over and tousled Mark's short spiked blond hair.  
"Hey!" Mark protested as he attempted to spike his hair back up.  
"Roger don't tease Mark." Mrs. Davis told Roger.  
"Sorry." Roger apologized. Mark grinned and kept trying to spike his hair up. Then the bell rang and Roger and Mark hurried into the building. "Bye Mommy!" Roger called back.  
"Bye Rog, bye Mark!" Mrs. Davis replied.

When they walked into their classroom their teacher, Miss Martinez, was standing at the front of the room.  
"Hello Roger. Hello Mark. Nice of you two to join us, please sit down." Miss Martinez told them. Roger and Mark sat down quickly and payed attention to what their teacher was teaching them a bit about spelling and how to write. When free period came all the kids began playing. Roger took out his guitar and tried to come up with the rest of his song. Mark was filming everything in the room. Then a small, thin girl with shocking red-ish blond hair came over to Roger.  
"Hi. I'm April Ericcson. Who are you?" She asked Roger.  
"I'm Roger Davis. I'm 4 years old. How old are you?" Roger asked.  
"I'm 4 too. I like your song. Do you have words for it yet?" April questioned.  
"Thanks. But no I don't know what the words could be yet." Roger responded.  
"Rog can you...oh hi what's your name?" Mark asked.  
"Mark Cohen, this is April Ericcson." Roger said the introduction.  
"Hi Mark." Apirl said shyly.  
"Hey." Mark greeted. Roger began playing again as Mark went back to filming.

As the year wore on Roger came up with more bits and peices to his song. Mark now had at least 15 screen plays. April was getting ready to move to Boston for a while and wouldn't be back until high school. Roger and Mark went to her going away party and Mark caught it all on film. At the party April gave them each something to remember her by.  
"Here Roger. You take this." April gave Roger a dog tag necklace that had a guitar engraved into it.  
"Thanks April. I love it. I'll miss you." Roger said giving her a hug.  
"And Mark this it for you." April handed Mark a blue and white scarf.  
"Thank you. I'll never loose it. I'll miss you. But we'll all see each other in high school." Mark told her, giving her a hug as well.  
"Here April take this." Roger handed her a necklace that had her name attached to it.  
"Thank you Roger. I'll wear it always."  
"I brought you this." Mark handed her a little stuffed toy dog.  
"Aw Mark it's so cute. Thanks. I'll miss you both so much." April said. She hugged them each one more time before she climbed into the car and her parents drove away. April looked back and waved to them.  
"Bye April." Roger whispered.  
"Last shot April Ericcson as she leaves for Boston." Mark said as he filmed her departure. 


	2. Kindergarten

"RENT" Kindergarten 4-5 Notice- THIS IS KINDERGARTEN PEOPLE! THE CHARACTERS CAN'T SAY EVERYTHING EXACTLY RIGHT! You'll find out as I go along what they can't say. Roger has started to lose teeth early so now he can't say S very well or R for that matter. Mark can't really say "camera" and other stuff like "before". Also when Roger says "New York" remember he can't say the "R" right now. April is mentioned cuz in the last part April came in. Roger can say R sometimes depending on the word.  
Also the ****'s mean the star of a new chapter.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROGER!" 4 year old Mark yelled. His clear blue eyes excited behind his glasses under a shock of blond messed up hair. Roger had just turned 5 and gotten a haircut and new clothes and a new guitar (to replace his old one which had broken) for his birthday. Mark had gotten him a package of guitar picks and more crayons. Roger's bright leaf-green eyes roamed around the few gifts he had received and right away picked up the guitar and picks. His now spiked dirty blond hair was catching and reflecting light.  
"I like your gift Mawk." Roger said. "Wanna heaw me play my new guita?" Roger asked. His front teeth were missing so he couldn't speak speak very well at the moment.  
"Thanks Rog. And alright, I'll listen to you play now." Mark told the taller boy. Roger picked up his new guitar and ran to his room with Mark close behind.  
"Alright thith ith it Mawk." Roger said as he played the song Mark had heard many times before, but now it was complete!  
"That is so cool!" Mark yelled as Roger bowed. "Thankth. If I play it again could you film it?" Roger asked.  
"Sure Rog." Mark said, getting his camera out. Roger began playing and Mark started filming Roger playing his song. Roger rocked out just like any musician should while playing his song. Mark held the camera. He moved around, trying to get Roger at different angles. Roger focused on his song but tried to get Mark to laugh. He was sticking his tounge out at Mark's camera. Mark started laughing silently. Roger played through to the end. "THANK YOU NEW YORK CITY!" Roger yelled as he raised his arms and bowed. Mark caught it all on film. When they played it back Roger couldn't help but laugh. It was really cool how Mark had done it. "Thath awthome Mawk." Roger told the smaller blond. Mark blushed and nodded in thanks. Roger slapped the smaller boy on the back and Mark almost lost his camera.  
"Careful!" Mark warned.  
"Sowwy." Roger replied. Roget then put his guitar down gently and ran into the kitchen of his small apartment. "Mommy can Mawk and I have thome cake?" Roger asked eagerly.  
"Sure. Here you go boys." Mrs. Davis said giving them both a piece of cake on a small paper plate.  
"Thankth Mommy. Hewe ya go Mawk." Roger thanked his mom and handed Mark a plate with the cake on it.  
"Thanks Rog." Mark replied.  
"No pwoblem. I hope you like the cake." Roger told the smaller boy. Mark tasted the cake and nodded.  
"I like it." Mark said.  
"Cool. I wonder what would happen if I did thith." Roger wondered as he pulled the fork with cake backwards and let it go. The clear plastic fork flicked forward and the cake flew at Mark. It hit his glasses.  
"Hey! Roger!" Mark yelled. He cleaned his glasses as best he could and chased Roger to a place with carpeting. Then he tackled the taller boy. "What did you do that for?!?!" Mark asked Roger.  
"I wanted to thee what you would do." Roger explained. Then Roger pinned Mark down and picked up a small plastic bat.  
"No Rog don't do that!" Mark pleaded. Roger started whacking Mark over the head with the bat. Mark managed to kick Roger off of him. After that Roger pinned Mark to the wall. "Rog, I can't breathe!" Mark cried. "Roger Davis what are you doing to Mark!?!?" Mrs. Davis shrieked when she saw her son battling physically with Mark. Mark took advantage of this and pounced on Roger from behind. Roger was pinned now and Mark was holding the older boy down. "Mawk, I can't bweathe!" Roger yelled.  
"You did that to me." Mark said calmly.  
"BOYS'!" Mrs. Davis yelled. "Roger, Mark stop. No more throwing cake at Mark, no more hitting him with plastic bats, no more pinning him so that he can't breathe. Just no more. Same to you Mark." Mrs. Davis told the two boys.  
"Alwight Mommy. We'll thtop." Roger promised.  
"Good. Now finish your cake, and no more throwing it at people." Mrs. Davis said. Roger nodded and went back to eating his cake. Mark finished cleaning his glasses and continued eating. Roger finished first and wiated for Mark. When Mark was done they went out onto the balcony.  
"I wish Apwil could be hewe wight now." Roger said as he looked at the dog-tag necklace April had given him before she had moved away.  
"Yeah. April was cool. The scarf she gave me is really useful. At least she'll be back when we get into High School." Mark commented. Roger nodded. Then he noticed something on the dog-tag, April had put her picture on it.  
"Look She put her picture on it. I wonda why." Roger wondered aloud. Mark shrugged and played back the last film he had caught of April.  
"'Last shot of April Ericcson as she leaves for Boston.'" Mark's voice said from the film. Roger was crying.  
"Roger are you alright?" Mark asked.  
"I mith her, she wath a good friend." Roger said. He wiped the tears away. Mark turned the film off. But before Mark did they saw April waving. Roger looked away. His leafy green eyes looked downcast as he turned away.  
"Are you sure you're okay?" Mark asked.  
"Yeah." Roger said. *  
The next morning Roger spiked his hair and ate a bowl of Cap 'n' Crunch. Roger pulled on a grey Fender shirt and picked up his guitar case.  
"Hey Rog. You ready?" Mrs. Davis asked.  
"Yeah." Roger said. Roger held his mother's hand as they walked down the street to the Alphabet City Elementary School. Mark was already there when Roger arrived.  
"Hey Rog." Mark called.  
"Hi Marky." Roger called back.  
"Don't call me that." Mark told him.  
"Thorry. Bye Mommy we have to go." Roger told him mom as the two boys walked into their school. Roger still looked a bit down.  
"Rog what happened yesterday with my film?" Mark asked.  
"Nothing. I jutht mith April." Roger said, sadly.  
"I miss her too." Mark agreed. Roger pulled out the dog-tag necklace and looked at it again. The picture on the back showed April just as she had been when Roger had last seen her. Red-ish blond hair and dazzling hazel eyes that lit up with her smile. Her heart shaped face was lit up with the smile that could get both boys to laugh when they were upset.  
"Rog? Earth to Roger Davis. Come in Roger. ROGER!" Mark shouted.  
"AHHHHH! WHAT?!?!" Roger shouted back.  
"Thank you. You need ta stop lookin' at April's picture she won't look the same as she did then the next time we see her." Mark told him.  
"I know but that'th a long way away and she'll look almotht the thame when we thee her next time won't she?" Roger asked, suddenly worried that next time he saw April that he wouldn't recognize her.  
"She'll have that hair forever." Mark pointed out. "It'll probably just get a shade or two darker or lighter."  
"Yeah." Roger agreed, but he still had his doubts.  
"C'mon let's go play on the swings." Mark suggested.  
"Alwight." Roger agreed and the two ran off toward the swingset.

"I bet I can swing higher than you!" Mark shouted. Before they'd gotten to the swingset before school, the bell had rung so now at recess they played on the swingset.  
"No you can't! I can swing highwer than you though!" Roger replied. The two were having a contest to see who could swing the highest without the teachers noticing, be cause the school rule was that they couldn't swing higher than the second post of the swingset. Roger had made up the contest in Pre School and they had played it ever since. As of right now Roger was winning.  
"Aw Rog, no fair! You're taller!" Mark complained.  
"I can't help that I'm talle, Mawk." Roger responded but slowed down a bit anyway. That's when they heard the shout.  
"MARK, ROGER! STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING THIS SECOND!" Ms. Quincy was running toward them. The two stopped their swings but stayed seated.  
"What'd we do, Ms. Q?" Roger asked.  
"You know you're not supposed to swing that high! School Rule boys." Ms. Quincy told them.  
"Well it'th a thupid wule."  
"We don't say 'stupid' here Mr. Davis." "Why not?"  
"It isn't a nice word."  
"Why not?"  
"It's not a nice word and it's a School Rule Mr. Davis." "Oh."  
"Boys how about you get off the swings now?"  
"Why?" Mark asked.  
"I told you to." Ms. Quincy said.  
"It sounded more like a question to me." "Mr. Cohen I stirctly asked you to get off the swings."  
"What does 'strictly' mean?"  
"WHY ARE YOU BOTH SO DIFFICULT! JUST GET OFF THE SWINGS!"  
"We will when you tell me what it means." Mark said calmly.  
"WHAT WHAT MEANS!?" "'Strictly.'"  
"It means I asked you to do what I asked you right away."  
"Oh. Well bye Ms. Quincy." The two boys hopped off the swings and ran to the jungle gym. They sat down and Roger pulled out a tiny notebook and pencil and began to write. Mark took out his camera from the small camera bag he carried with him. "August 23. 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Roger and Mark are out on the playground just before lunch. Roger is trying to write a song. Mark is filming." Mark continued to narrate while Roger tried to think up a good song. Then the bell rang. Everyone made their way to the lunch room to eat. Roger and Mark ended up last inside because so many older kids thought they were wierd and tried to stay away from them. "Why does everyone hate us?" Roger asked Mark.  
"Just cuz we like art and they don't." Mark said.  
"Well that'th THTUPID!" Roger yelled, loudly enough for Ms. Quincy to hear. "Run." he hissed to Mark and the two boys melted into the crowd of Kindergartners. Mark was laughing and both boys managed to get inside without being seen.  
"I can't beleive you did that Rog!" Mark yelled through his giggles.  
"You know I'll bet we'll always be twouble-makerth. Math chaoth for evewyone." Roger remarked.  
"Yep. People will hide in fear from us." Mark agreed. Roger nodded and took out a lunch box out of his backpack. "Aw my Mommy forgot to pack me lunch."  
"Hewe you can have half of my thandwich."  
"Thanks Rog." Mark took the half and ate it slowly.  
"Why are you eating tho thlow?" Roger asked.  
"Your stomach holds food longer if you eat slower cuz it makes it think that you don't have much food." Mark told him.  
"Oh." Roger took out a water and took a quick drink. Mark grabbed Roger's lunch and pulled out a juice. Roger nodded and Mark kept the juice. Lunch ended far to quickly for both boys and they hurried off to their classroom.

As they walked in Ms. Quincy greeted them and the two slipped into their seats without getting into any more trouble.  
"I'm surprised she didn't mention when you yelled stupid befo lunch." Mark remarked.  
"Yeah tho am I. Well it meanth she didn't notithe." Roger said. Mark nodded and the two of them took their seats and began working on a letter writing worksheet that Ms. Quincy had given them. As they worked Roger doodled on the egdes of his paper. He was drawing things that related to music such as notes and clef's. Mark on the other hand was working without fail or distraction.  
"Mawk, how do you write the letter 'r'?" Roger asked. Mark grabbed the pencil from Roger's hand and showed him, Roger then took the pencil back and tried it for himself. "Thankth Mawky."  
"Don't call me that and you're welcome." Mark replied. He'd finished the worksheet a long time ago and was coloring a 'Wizard of Oz' coloring sheet. Roger was trying to finish quickly so that he could color too, but without luck. A few moments later he put the pencil down and turned in his work for a coloring sheet.  
"Well that wath fun." Roger had colored the whole sheet in under a minute.  
"Rog all you did was scribble across the thing so you could get done." Mark grinned. An hour later the bell rang and the students went to get picked up.

As the year went on the boys continued with trouble and chaos. At the end of the year party Ms. Quincy seemed truly happy to see them go. On the last day of school Roger had made a game of throwing snacks and water at peoples faces. Ms. Quincy was first to get the water splashed at her.  
"ROGER DAVIS!" She yelled after getting her face wet.  
"Sorry. I didn't mean to." Roger replied, smirking. Mark broke out giggling. *  
"Good-bye school. Hello Summer!" Roger and Mark yelled as they ran toward the swimming pool. Roger didn't own a swimsuit so he wore baggy shorts that reached his knees. Mark did the same. Both boys jumped into the water and began swimming. "Let's make chaoth all thummer until school starts again." Roger suggested when they were drying off from their swim. "Alright. I wonder what April would say to that?" Mark wondered aloud. 


	3. First Grade

"RENT" first grade 6-7 Notice- Roger no longer has missing front teeth so now he can talk normally again. Mark has loose teeth but hasn't lost any yet. Mark will lose teeth soon though. Benny and Collins are here at last!!!!! YAY! Oh and I would like to thank IceKazana-Angel (on DeviantArt) who helped me with the names of the students in the class. Kazana's idea was to name them after the OBC of RENT and I agreed. The spaces between paragraphs is when time has passed. The star things don't show up so sorry about not telling you that sooner.

Roger Davis, 6 years old, walked through the doors of the Alphabet City Elementary School. He was holding a guitar case in one hand and his Spider-Man backpack was on his shoulder. His best friend, Mark Cohen also 6 years old, was walking with him. Roger was complaining about First Grade. Mark, however, was complaining about how easy First Grade was going to be.  
"Mark, First Grade is gonna be hard." Roger told the smaller blond.  
"No it won't. We get to learn a bunch of new stuff like adding and subtracting." Mark replied, eagerly.  
"That type of stuff is hard." Roger complained.  
"It won't be once you learn it." Mark promised.  
"Okay I'll give it a try." Roger responded, glumly. He hated not getting his own way. Mark on the other hand took out his camera and began filming.  
"August 23. 8:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time." Mark said. Mark began filming. "First shot Roger. Upset about school and carrying his new Spider-Man backpack. Next shot the school. Where Mark and Roger will be in until Eigth Grade." Mark went right on filming and talking. Then he crashed into and older boy. "S-s-sorry." He stammered. Roger looked around and saw where Mark was. Mark was standing next to an older kid who was dark skinned and wearing a knit hat with a long coat.  
"Hey kid." The older boy said.  
"Sorry about crashing into you. I can't see where I'm going with this camera." Mark said hastily.  
"No problem. By the way, what's your name kid?" The older boy asked.  
"I'm Mark Cohen. By the way what's your name?" Mark asked.  
"Tom Collins. But NEVER call me Tom! If you do you're dead!" Collins told Mark.  
"Hey guys." Roger greeted.  
"And you are?" Collins asked.  
"I'm Roger Davis. Who are you?" Roger asked.  
"Tom Collins, but ONLY call me Collins! NEVER Tom!" Collins told Roger.  
"Okay." Roger said quickly. Collins grinned and shook both their hands.  
"H-h-hi." Mark stammerd.  
"Hi." Roger said confidently. "Don't worry about him. He gets nervous around new people." Roger explained. Mark elbowed him in the ribs. "What?"  
"I don't get as nervous as I did when we met April."  
"Whose April?" Collins asked.  
"Our friend from Pre-School." Roger told him.  
"Cool. Is she here now?" Collins asked.  
"Nope she moved to Boston at the end of the year." Mark replied, sadly. Roger nodded.  
"THOMAS!" A slightly smaller dark skinned boy shouted.  
"Whose that?" Roger asked.  
"Benjamin Coffin III." Collins replied. "Hi Benny." Collins greeted as Benny ran up.  
"Hey Thomas."  
"DON'T CALL ME THOMAS!" Collins yelled, gripping the collar of Benny's shirt. Benny barley flinched.  
"You should go by your given name Tom. Your teachers will call you Thomas not Collins."  
"They will if they want to keep me at bay!" Collins replied sharply. Then Benny noticed Mark and Roger.  
"Hey who are they?" Benny asked Collins.  
"Ask them, they can speak." Collins muttered, releasing Benny.  
"Hey, who are you two?" Benny asked.  
"I'm Roger Davis."  
"M-mark C-cohen. Who are you?" Mark asked.  
"Benjamin Coffin III. Though I prefer Benny." He told them. They all shook hands.  
"So what grade are you guys going into?" Colllins asked them.  
"First." Roger said.  
"First." Mark replied.  
"First." Benny shrugged.  
"Wow we're all in the same grade!" Collins exclaimed. At that moment the bell rang. "Let's go to class!" The four all ran to class where they ended up being together again. "This is really cool. We're even in the same class." Collins remarked.  
"Alright class settle down. My name is Ms. Sharon." She told them as she wrote her name on the board for all to see. Roger and Mark were sitting next to each other but they weren't paying much attention to her.  
"The first lesson today will be to learn each others names." Roger raised his hand.  
"I know four people in here right now. You, Mark, Benny and Collins." He said.  
"Very good. What's your name young man?" Ms. Sharon asked.  
"Roger Davis." Roger promptly fell silent and went to writing out a staff and beginning to write a song. Ms. Sharon went around the room to see who everyone was. Roger half listened.  
"Mark Cohen." Mark introduced himself to the class.  
"Tom Collins, but please only call me Collins." Collins told the class.  
"Benjamin Coffin III." Benny said. "But I prefer Benny."  
"Tyler Rogers." A small, sligthly gangly brown haired, green eyed boy said.  
"Aaron Ryerson." A black haired, brown eyed boy introduced himself.  
"Idina." A tall, thin, brunette girl stood up.  
"Anthony." A blond stood up, his blue eyes gleaming.  
"Adam." A boy with bleached blond hair stood up.  
"Taye." A dark skinned boy said with a wave.  
"Wilson." A skinny boy stood and he had curly short hair.  
"Gilles." A tall boy stood up.  
"Rodney." A boy with dark skin said to the class.  
"Kristen." A girl with dark hair waved.  
"Jesse." A dark skinned kid stood up and sat back down.  
"Aiko." A girl who looked to be from Japan introduced herself.  
"Timothy" A kid with dark short hair.  
"Daphne." She looked Hispanic and had dark hair.  
"Byron." He had dark skin and wore a hat.  
"Gwen." She was a girl with dark skin.  
"Fredi." Was dark skinned.  
"Jonathan." The final boy stood up and waved. He was easily the tallest boy there and his hair was curly and his ears looked to be just a bit to big. *  
When the bell rang for recess the four boys ran out to the playground. Roger carried his guitar like always. Mark carried his camera.  
"Do you two always carry those things with you?" Benny asked. Roger and Mark looked at each other and nodded.  
"Yeah." They replied at the same time.  
"Oh wow." Benny mumbled.  
"Don't bag on them Benjamin. They can do what they want." Collins told him.  
"Don't call me Benjamin." Benny told him. Roger began to play his guitar with Mark filming him.  
**** "Mark?" Roger asked when they sat down in class.  
"What?" Mark replied.  
"I need help." "With what?" Mark, like always had finished long before Roger and was working on the weeks homework.  
"What's eight minus eight?" Roger asked.  
"Zero." Mark replied. Roger grinned.  
"Thanks." Roger told him. Mark nodded and went back to his work. Roger finished soon after and he turned in his math worksheet. He pulled out a peice of paper and started writing music. A few minutes later the bell rang and Mark, Roger, Benny and Collins ran outside to get picked up.  
"There's my mom." Benny said when he spotted his mother. "Bye boys." He told them before running off.  
"Am I carpooling with you today?" Collins asked Benny.  
"Yeah, so come on Collins." Benny told him.  
"Bye Roger and Mark." Collins told the two smaller boys before running off to join Collins.  
"Roger! Mark! Come on you two!" Mrs. Cohen called to the boys.  
"Let's go." The boys ran to Mrs. Cohen.  
"Hi mom." Mark greeted.  
"Hi Marky. Hi Roger." Mrs. Cohen greeted.  
"Hello Mrs. Cohen." Roger greeted. "Are you boys ready to go?" Mrs. Cohen asked. The two nodded. "Then let's go." They followed Mrs. Cohen out to her car. She drove Roger home and then went home herself. *  
The next day at school the four new friends played on the playground before school.  
"August 24, 7:00 am. The group of new friends are playing on the playground." Mark announced. Jonathan walked up to them.  
"Hey." He greeted. He looked really shy.  
"Hey what's up?" Roger greeted.  
"You're a really good guitar player." Jonathan told him.  
"Thanks." Roger said. Jonathan was easily the tallest of all four of them and he was grinning widely.  
"Hey Jonathan what are you going to do for a living?" Mark asked. He turned to look at Mark.  
"Right now I enjoy things like performing, but music is fun too." Jonathan said.  
"Cool."  
"What about you Mark?" Jonathan asked, Mark looked shocked, it was hard to beleive that Jonathan still remembered his name.  
"I want to be a filmmaker." Mark replied. Jonathan nodded.  
"That'd be great." Was his reply.  
"I really don't know what I want to be." Collins remarked.  
"That's fine you have plenty of time." Jonathan told him, but as he said it his cheerful manner fell slightly.  
"What's wrong?" Benny asked.  
"Nothing." Jonathan replied. Then his grin spread out across his face again. "Hey why don't we make a movie of all of us?" He stated.  
"Alright." Mark agreed and he began filming Roger playing while Jonathan sang. Benny and Collins joined in and Mark directed them silently from behind the camera. Soon Jonathan, Collins, Benny and Roger were standing in a line in front of him. The song was slow and quite, until Roger began to make it more of a rock song. Jonathan immediatly caught on to the rythm and sang, sounding like a professional singer. Mark was shocked. When the song was over; they were all silent. No one knew what to say or do. That is until Roger began to clap. Jonathan grinned and clapped for Roger, while Roger clapped for Jonathan.  
"Hello boys." Ms. Quincy greeted.  
"Hi." Roger murmered. Collins aknowledged her, but gave no sign that he had heard.  
"Hello Ms. Quincy." Benny greeted.  
"Hello." Jonathan greeted. Mark just looked at her, without saying anything.  
"What were you boys doing?" She asked.  
"Filming."  
"Playing guitar."  
"Singing."  
"Watching then joining in." Was both Benny and Collins' reply.  
"Well could you keep it down?" She asked and the boys shook their heads. "Why not?"  
"Well you see, when we're on the playground we aren't supposed to be quite. That's what the classroom is for." Colllins told her smugly.  
"Thomas Collins! How dare you speak to a teacher that way?" She demanded.  
"Well, you asked and I gave you an answer." Collins muttered.  
"Come with me." She grabbed him and dragged him off. Roger, Mark, Jonathan and Benny watched him.  
"What'll happen to him?" Mark asked.  
"If I know Tom then he'll talk his way out of detention." Benny told the others as they watched Collins being dragged off. "How will he do that?" Roger asked.  
"He has his ways." Benny told him. The others shrugged.  
"True." Roger agreed. Then Collins came running from around the corner.  
"I'm a genius, how do I do it?" He called as he ran out from around the corner. Roger shrugged. Jonathan grinned. Benny rolled his eyes and Mark gave Collins a high five.  
"Collins you have to teach us that." Roger said to him.  
"You really can't be taught, you just have to know how to charm our principle enough that they decide they WANT to keep you around." Collins explained.  
"How do you charm the principle?" Jonathan asked, his eyes wide.  
"Well first you find out what they like then you use that to your advantage." Collins explained.  
"So blackmail?" Mark asked.  
"In a way yes." Collins agreed.  
"Sweet." Roger said.  
"No it's not." Benny replied.  
"And why not exactly?" Roger countered.  
"It's a crime to blackmail someone. Especially a teacher!" Benny shouted. More at Collins than Roger. The two boys started a heated argument and didn't stop until after lunch. By that time Mark, Collins and Jonathan were annoyed.  
"Just shut it the both of you!" Collins groaned.  
"Please." Added Jonathan. "And Mark don't bang your head on the table." He told Mark. Instantly Mark stopped. "Thank you." Jonathan told the smaller blond.  
"Fine, we'll stop." Roger said. Benny agreed.  
"THANK YOU!" The other three yelled in unison. Then the bell rang.

A the end of the day, Roger and Mark were messing around as they waited for their parents to come pick them up. Jonathan was tyring to pull his bike out of the bike rack.  
"Here let me help." Adam said as he walked over to help the taller boy.  
"Thanks." Jonathan said. Mark and Roger watched the scene unfold.  
"Hey guys." Anthony greeted, walking up to Mark and Roger. Jonathan and Adam followed.  
"Hi. Anthony right?" Roger greeted.  
"Yeah I'm in your class. You two are Mark and Roger. Right?" He asked. They nodded.  
"Tony hurry up!" A voice called. They turned to see Daphne calling to him.  
"I forgot! Carpooling! Bye guys!" He called as he ran to catch his ride with Daphne and her mom.  
"See you guys." Daphne called as her mom pulled out of the parking lot.  
"Hey boys." Jesse and Wilson walked over to them.  
"Hi Jesse." Jonathan greeted. "Wilson." He shook both of their hands. Idina ran up at that moment.  
"Hey guys. Bye guys." She said as she ran by to her car.  
"Oh we have to go too." Wilson and Jesse ran off.  
"Johnny!" A voice called.  
"Oh i have to go my mother is here. Bye." Jonathan ran and jumped on his bike and he and his mother rode home. All the other people in the class were around and getting leaving as they saw their parents coming up to them or pulling up in front of the school. Soon Mark and Roger were the only two left.  
"Where is my dad?" Roger asked. Mark shrugged. 30 minutes later Mark's mother showed up.  
"Hey mom wasn't Roger's dad supposed to pick us up today?" Mark asked.  
"Yes but Roger your mother wants to talk with you when you get home today." Mrs. Cohen told Roger. A worried look flickered over Roger's face. Mark looked worried too, but his face stayed worried.

A few minutes later Roger was home and his mother was waiting. "Hey mom, what did you want to talk to me about?" Roger asked.  
"I wanted to tell you what you'd think if daddy and I didn't live together anymore."  
"Why do you say that?" Roger asked, growing worried.  
"Well we were considering getting a divorce, but only if our son would let us." Mrs. Davis explained.  
"I don't want you to." Roger told her. She nodded. "Alright. Then we won't." She told him. Roger nodded.  
"Can I go over to Mark's this weekend?" Roger asked. Mrs. Davis thought for a moment before responding.  
"Okay." She said nodding. Roger pulled a victory fist and yelled for joy. Mrs. Davis hugged him and then told him to go do homework.  
"Oh what do you want for dinner Rog?" She asked. He thought for a minute before responding.  
"I want pizza or pasta." Roger replied and he walked into his room. He pulled out his guitar and started to play. He thought about April and he started to cry a bit. Roger played for about and hour when his mom called him.  
"Roger! Dinner!" His mother called. Roger put his guitar down and ran out to the table. He converse laces touched the floor and his baggy shirt and shorts hung on him a bit to big. Both his mother and father were sitting at the table. Roger joined them and he grinned and waved as he sat down.

The next day at school Mark and Roger were hanging out with Collins, Benny and Jonathan. Roger was playing as usual and Jonathan sang as usual. Like always Benny and Collins set a rythm for them by clapping. They four boys continued like this until the year was almost over. That's when they heard that Jonathan would be transferred to a different school.  
"Hey guys." Jonathan had greeted the day he told them.  
"Hey Jonathan." The others replied.  
"I have some bad news." He said. His normally bright gaze was lowered and he didn't look straight at them.  
"What is it?" Mark asked.  
"I'm not coming back to this school." Jonathan told them. Roger and Mark looked at each other in shock.  
"Why not?" Roger asked.  
"My Mom is making me transfer. I begged and pleaded but she wouldn't let me stay." Jonathan explained. Mark and Roger both looked away from their friend, they couldn't beleive it. Jonathan had become a fast friend to them and now he was leaving them. Collins and Benny were having similar reactions to the news.  
"Jonathan why won't your mom let you stay here?" Collins asked.  
"I don't know. I will say she's incredibly nice but hey kids change schools all the time." He told them. He was looking at the ground and his dark hair was all that was visible of his head and face.  
"Well we'll miss you Johnny." Benny told him. The lanky boy raised his head to look at Benny.  
"I'll miss you all too. Just for the record I won't forget you guys. If you'll let me when we all get older I'll write about you guys and all the friends you make. I'll turn it into a musical and we can all perform it." Jonathan promised. "Don't worry we'll see each other again soon. Maybe in high school. Or as adults. I'm sure we won't look too different then we do now." He said.  
"Well, while Jonathan is still here let's all make one last film of us together." Mark said, taking out his camera. They all nodded and Mark started filming.  
"May 19, 11:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Jonathan won't be coming back to our school so this is our goodbye film." Mark narrated as the other three went about their usual activities. Mark joined them after he set up his camera on a tripod stand. Jonathan was trying to keep a smile on his face, but when they reached the end of the roll of film, all of them were crying. Jonathan was hugging every one of them and they stood with their arms around each others shoulders. Mark was the smallest there and Roger, Collins and Jonathan were the tallest there. Benny was medium height. Jonathan sang his goodbye.  
"'I can't beleive this is, good bye.'" Jonathan sang as the roll of film reached the end. It faded to black on the five friends.

On the last day of school the five friends were once again in tears when the day ended. It was the last day they would get to be with Jonathan so they made the most of it.  
"'No day but today,' right guys" Jonathan asked when the day ended. The others nodded. "Be good you guys and I hope I'll see all of you again someday." Jonathan said his final good bye and rode off on his bike. He waved, and the others waved back.  
"Maybe it'll be like with April and we'll see him again in high school." Mark said heavily to his friends. Roger shrugged.  
"Maybe. Or maybe he'll leave the country and we'll never see him again." Roger told them.  
"Or maybe he'll be back next year, despite what he said." Benny suggested.  
"Or maybe the next time we here news about him, he'll be dead." Collins suggestion was easily the most frightening, but somehow they knew that wouldn't happen.  
"Well happy summer." Benny told them as he left to get into his car. Collins stood a moment later to leave as well. He waved as he climbed into his car. Roger and Mark waved back and waited. The weight of Jonathan's departure hung heavy on their shoulders so when Mark's mother showed up, they had to work harder to stand up.  
"Hey boys." Mrs. Cohen greeted. They simply nodded. "What's wrong?" She asked.  
"Jonathan left." Mark said shortly. "Oh that's too bad." Mrs. Cohen said. They nodded, not wanting to speak.  
A few minutes later they were home. Mark put the last film they made on for them to watch. They watched it until they could watch no more and left just as the camera faded to black on their smiling, but tearstained faces. 


	4. Second Grade

"RENT" second grade 7-8 Notice-Mark is the one who can't say "S" or "R" now(depending on where it is said in the word he can or can't) cuz he finaly lost teeth. Roger is the all star of the school. Maureen is here at long last along with Joanne and Mimi. Wow I take forever to introduce a character!  
Also the ****'s mean the star of a new chapter.

Roger Davis awoke on his bed with his best friend Mark Cohen laying in a sleeping bag on the floor of Roger's room.  
"Mark! Get up!" Roger yelled as he tried to get Mark to wake up. The smaller blond haired blue eyed boy groaned. "C'mon Marky up!" Roger yelled again. Mark groaned louder as the taller dirty blond haired boy yelled at him. "MARK!" Roger screamed.  
"Buzz off." Mark muttered.  
"Not till you get up." Roger replied. Mark opened one ocean blue eye and slapped Roger across the head. Roger's ear length hair stuck up from the blow and his leaf green eyes were glimmering as he tried again to get Mark up. Mark moaned and rolled over onto his stomach. "MARK COHEN GET UP!" Roger yelled at the top of his voice. "Okay, Okay I'm getting up." Mark said at long last. Roger yipped like a puppy with joy as Mark stretched and looked for his glasses. When he couldn't find them he looked at Roger.  
"Woge, where awe my glatheth?" Mark asked. Roger just grinned. "Wogeh, give me my glatheth." Mark said.  
"No." Roger replied as he darted out of the room. Mark followed even though he couldn't see without his glasses. As Mark ran he ran into the door, then the wall, then finally he tripped and fell to the floor.  
"WOGE!" Mark yelled. Roger walked over to his friend and pulled him up by the wrist and gave him his glasses.  
"Hey I wanted to play a prank and this was the best way to do it." Roger told him. Mark pouted which caused Roger to laugh. They were both laughing soon but as thier laughter died down they heard a honk outside. They walked to the window and saw a moving truck parked outside a house across the street. "New neighbors." Roger remarked.  
"Wanna go thay hello?" Mark asked. Roger nodded. They darted outside barefoot and ran across the street.  
"Hello kids." An adult woman said.  
"Hi." Roger replied. "Are you gonna be our new neighbors?" He asked.  
"Yes we are."  
"Do you have kidth?" Mark asked.  
"Yes. One daughter. Her name is Maureen Johnson. You two can call me Mrs. Johnson." She told them. They nodded then a small thin brunnette walked over.  
"Mom are we almost done unpacking?" She asked. She had brown eyes with flecks of mica and grey buried along the edges.  
"Yes we almost are Maureen." Mrs. Johnson replied.  
"Who are they?" Maureen asked, looking at Mark and Roger.  
"I'm Roger Davis."  
"I'm M-m-mark C-c-cohen." Mark stammered out.  
"I'm Maureen. Are we going to be neighbors?" She asked.  
"Well we are but Marky here is just here for a sleepover. He lives around the block but he could still be considered a neighbor." Roger told her. Mark blushed and looked down. He got nervous around new people. Girls in particular.  
"Alright. That sounds good, I guess." Maureen stated. "Do either of you know how to play an instrument?" She asked. Roger nodded and Mark pointed to him. "What instrument?"  
"Guitar." Roger replied. "He's a filmmaker." Roger pointed to Mark.  
"Great cuz I like to sing and act so it'd be cool if you could play guitar for one of my songs." Maureen told Roger. Roger wordlessly ran inside and came back with his guitar.  
"What song?" he asked. Maureen looked surprised, but she pulled sheet music out of a bag that was laying by her feet. Roger looked it over quickly and began playing the first chord. Maureen sang. Roger joinded her the second and Mark just looked on as though he didn't know what to do.  
"That's amazing." Roger commented after they had finished the part of a song.  
"It's from a song I heard when I went to see a live show." Maureen told them "That'th weally cool." Mark said to her.  
"Yeah. Why do you talk like that?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"You don't say 'S' or 'R' very well."  
"My two front teeth are mithing."  
"Oh." Mark nodded.  
"I'll be talking normal again thoon, but right now it'th really hard." Mark told Maureen. She shrugged.  
"Maureen why don't you come inside now?" Mrs. Johnson called. "Alright Mom. Bye guys I'll see you around." She said to Mark and Roger as she turned and went inside. They two boys ran inside and back to Roger's room.  
"Roger is that you?" Mrs. Davis, Roger's mother, called.  
"Yeah. We have new neighbors." Roger informed her.  
"Really?" "Yeah. The Jonhson family. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and their daughter Maureen."  
"Did you boys go say hello?"  
"We just got back." "Okay." Mrs. Davis said. Roger looked at Mark who had begun to day dream.  
"Marky what are you thinking about?" Roger asked.  
"Nothing." Mark replied to quickly.  
"Really?"  
"Fine I'm thinking about the neighbors." Roger looked at him. His best friend liked Maureen!  
"You like Maureen!" Roger yelped.  
"No I don't." Mark argued. Then Roger tackled the smaller blond boy. "And don't thay that I do!" Mark shoved Roger off him and Roger proceeded to pin him down.  
"But she likes you too." Roger told him as he calmly held the struggling blond down.  
"Stop it!" Mark yelled. "Woger get off!"  
"What, all I said was you like Maureen and Maureen likes you. What's so bad about that?" Roger asked. Mark shoved Roger off his back and stood up.  
"Girlth are annoying, who would ever like one?" Mark asked. Roger sighed.  
"April Ericsson would be mad if you said that to her." Roger told his friend. Mark nodded. Roger looked at the dog tag necklace April had given him. The picture on the back was old now.  
"How much longer till High Thchool when we can thee April again?" Mark asked, playing with the scarf April had given him.  
"A long, long, long, long, long time." Roger told the smaller boy.  
"Great." Mark muttered. Then the doorbell rang. The boys looked at each other before running to get the door. Mark tripped over his own two feet and nearly lost his footing, Roger hauled the blond boy up and they ran to the door.  
"Give me a boost will you?" Roger asked as he tried to look through the peep hole on the door. Mark got down on all fours and Roger climbed onto his back. He peered through the peep hole and saw Mrs. Cohen.  
"Whoa!" He lost his balance and fell backward off Mark's back and hit the ground with a dull thud. "OW!" Roger complained.  
"Who ith it?" Mark asked as he stood up.  
"Your mom." Roger replied, standing up as well. Mark opened the door and his mom came in.  
"Hi Marky. Did you have fun?" She asked. Mark nodded and walked over to her. Roger ran to get Mark's backpack.  
"Thanth for inviting me." He said to Roger.  
"Thanks for coming." Roger replied. Mark gave Roger a one armed hug and walked out the door.  
"Roger, who was that?" Mrs. Davis called.  
"Mark's mom. He just left." Roger called back.  
"Did he get his things?" Mrs. Davis asked.  
"Yes." Roger replied. With that he walked back into his room and started playing his guitar. *  
Later on when he was eating lunch, the door bell rang again. This time it was Maureen.  
"Hey Maureen." He greeted.  
"Hi Roger. Where's Mark?" Maureen greeted.  
"He went home." He replied.  
"Oh. Anyway what's up?" Maureen asked, suddenly excited.  
"Nothing." Roger replied. Maureen stared at him for a second before shrugging.  
"Yeah at my place, my parents are still unpacking. I hate moving so much." She told him.  
"Yep. Not that I would know. I've never moved." Roger told her. Maureen shrugged.  
"You can imagine it. Having to pack up all your things and put them into boxes and into a big truck. Then you get to a new house and you have to get used to everything all over again." Maureen explained to him.  
"I can't beleive that." Roger remarked after thinking about it for a second. Maureen nodded.  
"I could only imagine until it happened." She said. "I miss my old house. It was fun and I had a lot of friends." Maureen described her old house to Roger.  
"That sounds like a great life." Roger remarked.  
"It was. On the bright side I have two new friends and I'll be going to Alphabet City Elementary School." Maureen told him.  
"That's where Mark and I go to school!" Roger exclaimed.  
"Really? Oh my goodness, we are going to have SO much fun!" Maureen squealed with delight. Roger shrunk away from her shrill voice.  
"Maureen, there's no need to yell!" Roger yelled.  
"But it's so exciting! I get to see you and Mark every day at school and make a lot of new friends and..." She didn't get to finish due to Roger clamping a hand over her mouth.  
"Yes Maureen I know that." Roger told her. She rolled her brown eyes and took his hand off her mouth.  
"It's still pretty exciting." She shrugged and began to bounce around causing the dark curly hair to look like a bunch of miniature springs. "Oh and guess what else, I'm going to be taking dance and voice lessons!" She squealed again causing Roger to cover his ears.  
"MAUREEN!" He yelled at the brunette.  
"WHAT?!" She yelled back.  
"Shut up." Roger replied with a grin as he leaned against the door frame.  
"Roger what is going on?" Mrs. Davis asked as she walked out to see her son leaning against the door and a brunette girl standing at the door.  
"Oh uh hi mom." Roger greeted as he spun around to see his mother standing there.  
"Why are you yelling?" Mrs. Davis asked.  
"Uh..."  
"It's okay really. It was just we met this morning and we'll be going to school together and we got into a spirited argument." Maureen explained for Roger.  
"Okay. What's your name?" Mrs. Davis asked.  
"Maureen Johnson. Mark and Roger came over to meet us this morning. We just moved in to the house across the street." Maureen explained.  
"Roger said something about new neighbors, nice to meet you." Mrs. Davis told her.  
"Nice to meet you too." Maureen said.

The next day school started. Mark and Roger walked to school together like always and the minute they got there, Maureen ran and nearly knocked them over when she ran full speed at them to give them hugs.  
"Maureen!" Roger gasped, she was choking the both of them without meaning to.  
"Can't bweathe, need air!" Mark choked out. Maureen released them.  
"Sorry, but hey, look I met someone else already. Roger, Mark this is Mimi Maurquez." Maureen dragged them over to a skinny rather small Latina girl with thick curly hair and dark brown eyes.  
"Hi, I'm Mark C-cohen." Mark greeted.  
"I'm Roger Davis." Roger told her.  
"Maureen already told you who I am. Nice to meet you." Roger and Mimi shook hands first then Mark and Mimi shook hands.  
"So what grade are you in Mimi?" Roger asked.  
"Second." Mimi replied. "You?"  
"Second." Roger said.  
"Second." Mark inclined his head slightly. "Me too." Maureen told them.  
"Hey, look at the girl with the fancy clothes." Roger pointed out to Mimi, Mark and Maureen.  
"Who is she?" Maureen asked.  
"How should I know?" Roger asked.  
"I think she'th a new thudent." Mark remarked.  
"Let's go say hello." Mimi said.  
"Alright. Wait I thought there was no more room for new kids." Roger told the group.  
"Well thince Jonathan left, I gueth there ith now." Mark told them.  
"Let's go." Mimi urged. They had forgotten that they were about to go say hi to a new student. Then Collins and Benny ran up to Mark and Roger.  
"Who are they?" Maureen asked.  
"This is Tom Collins, but don't call him Tom and this is Benjamin Coffin III, better known as Benny." Roger introduced. "Hi, I'm Maureen Johnson, and this is Mimi Maurquez." Maureen introduced herself and Mimi to Collins and Benny.  
"Hey." Benny shook hands with Mimi and Maureen.  
"What's up?" Collins greeted as he shook hands with Maureen and Mimi. Then the girl that had fancy clothes ran up to the group.  
"Hey." Mark greeted. "Uh, hi. Can you help me find the second grade classroom?" The girl asked. She had dark skin, dark eyes and curly hair.  
"Hey guyth. She needth help!" ark called to the others. Roger, Benny, Collins, Maureen and Mimi all turned to Mark and the girl.  
"Hi everyone." She greeted.  
"Hi, I'm Maureen Johnson." Maureen told the new girl.  
"Joanne Jefferson." The girl replied.  
"I'm Roger Davis." Roger greeted.  
"Tom. Collins." Collins greeted. "But I prefer just Collins."  
"Benjamin Coffin III, but everyone calls me Benny." Benny greeted.  
"Mimi Marquez." Mimi greeted. Everyone shook hands.  
"Now what do you need help with Joanne?" Maureen asked.  
"My mom wanted to meet the second grade teacher, and she told me to follow her, but I didn't pay attention so now I need to find the second grade classroom." Joanne explained.  
"Come on, Woger and I know the thchool like the back of our handth." Mark told her cheerfully. Roger and Mark led the way to the classroom, and the minute they got there the ball rang.  
"Perfect timing." Roger said with a sideways grin.

The seven sat down at the same table.  
"I feel like I'm back in Preschool." Roger complained. "This is how we sat in Preschool too didn't we Marky?"  
"Yeah and don't call me 'Marky.'"Mark replied.  
"I think 'Marky's' a cute nickname. I'll be calling you that from now on." Maureen told him. Mark simply groaned.  
"I don't think he wants us to call him by his nickname Mo." Collins told Maureen.  
"I don't care. I think it's cute." Maureen replied.  
"Quiet please." The teacher. The seven fell silent but Roger and Collins started a game of tic, tac, toe on the side of the table and weren't paying attention. Maureen quickly lost interest in what the teacher was saying and watched Roger and Collins. Mark and Maureen began a game of rock, paper, scissors. In the end only Joanne and Benny were paying attention. Mimi watched and ended up joining the game of rock, paper, scissors. That's when the teacher noticed that only two out of the table of seven were paying attention. She looked at the student I.D. cards and found the students who weren't paying attention.  
"Mr. Davis, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Collins, Miss Johnson, Miss Marquez," She waited for the students to look up. Roger, Mark, Collins, Maureen and Mimi all looked up. "Are any of you even paying attention?"  
"Ms. Robbinson, we were paying attention, but then we got tired of your boring voice." Roger replied. The others looked at him in shock well except for Collins.  
"Yeah. We payed attention until your voice nearly put us to sleep." Collins told her. Ms. Robbinson looked furious as Roger and Collins gave each other a high five. Maureen, Mark and Mimi all looked rather impressed. Benny and Joanne on the other hand looked shocked. "Mr. Davis, is it?" Roger nodded. "And Mr. Collins, correct?" Collins nodded. "Both of you to the principals office. NOW!" Roger and Collins stood up and left the room. As they walked down the hallway they laughed and disrupted all the classes they passed by.  
"How can we charm the principal into not giving us detention?" Roger asked.  
"Watch and learn." Collins replied. "Ah, you're just the two I wanted to see." The principal greeted.  
"Our teacher called you didn't she?" Collins asked. The woman sitting behind the desk nodded.  
"She said that you disrespected her in class after not paying attention." She told them.  
"Yes we did that, but in our defense... Have you done something different with your hair?" Collins asked, winking at Roger. Roger had to fight to keep himself from laughing.  
"Well I did get it cut a bit shorter." She told him.  
"And your makeup looks great." Roger told her.  
"Thank you boys. Now go, your teacher doesn't know what she's talking about. You two could never disrupt a class or disrespect a teacher." She told them and shooed them out of the room.  
"Thank you." They said together and left. They burst out laughing, but composed themselves by the time they got to the room.  
"Hello Ms. Robbinson." Roger greeted.  
"Hello Mr. Davis." She replied. "Did you get a detention?" "No, but we got talked to." Collins told her turning and winking at Roger so that the teacher couldn't see. Roger fell into silent laughter.  
"Yeah." Roger agreed trying to make his voice sound nueteral. The two walked back to their table and joined their friends.

At recess, The others who hadn't been sent to the office asked what punishment Roger and Collins had gotten.  
"Well nothing." Roger told them.  
"Weally?" Mark asked.  
"Yep." Roger replied "How'd you get out of it?" Maureen asked.  
"You see the principal is very easily distracted so we started to charm her a bit and she told us to leave." Collins explained.  
"And that worked?" Mimi asked in astonishment. They nodded. "Roger here almost lost it because he found it incredibly funny." Collins informed them.  
"Guilty." Roger confessed.  
"Wow." Mark commented.  
"What you guys did is terrible." Joanne said.  
"Yeah, imagine if she caught on and punished you for that too." Benny told them.  
"We didn't get caught and that's what's important." Collins retorted. Benny and Collins kept at the argument until the others were begginning to wonder if they'd lost their sanity yet. Roger was on the verge of slapping both Collins and Benny just put an end to the argument. Finally at the end of lunch the arguing ceased.  
"FINALLY!" Roger yelled. Mark looked up from where he was banging his head on the table and saw the argument was over.  
"Did you two finally end that thupid argument?" Mark asked hopefully.  
"Yes we did." Collins replied.  
"Thank you!" Maureen told them.  
"You two couldn't have ended sooner?" Mimi asked.  
"You argued about a pointless thing." Joanne told them.  
"Well I felt the need to make a point." Benny informed them.  
"So did I." Collins told Benny. Before they could start up on another argument, the bell rang and the seven went inside.

The year went to quickly for the seven friends. Maureen and Collins found they became fast friends and Benny and Collins often argued. Mark and Roger stayed close friends. Roger and Collins continued getting into trouble. On one memorable occasion had put a thumbtack on Ms. Robbinson's chair and 'accidentaly' spilled cold water all over the test papers that were supposed to be used as a test that day. Both Roger and Collins had gotten out of trouble for that too. Mimi sometimes joined in the fun by tripping guys in the hallway. Benny and Joanne didn't approve of their friends behavior and hated that they got themselves into trouble all the time. On the last day of school Ms. Robbinson wished Collins and Roger an over enthusiastic goodbye.  
"She'll miss us." Roger told them all later.  
"Yeah no one can top us as creators of mass chaos." Collins agreed.  
"Well summer is here at last." Maureen said.  
"I'm going to be dancing over the summer." Mimi informed them.  
"Neat. I'm gonna make a few new movieth." Mark told them. "Maybe we could all go to Central Park one day and film it there." "Yeah." Joanne spoke for all of them.  
"Stay out of trouble guys." Benny told them. Joanne agreed she would but Mark, Roger, Collins, Maureen and Mimi didn't.

A/N: Okay so have you liked or hated it so far? Reveiws are good. Anyways, sorry about the lack of updating. My laptop got a virus so I was stuck with the old computer we have. Well my laptop is back now so yeah. Luckily I didn't lose any files. Anyways I know the disclaimer is in the summary but I shall put it again every four chapters. RENT and all its charactrers belong to Jonathan Larson. Not me, I am simply borrowing them for this fan fiction. 


	5. Third Grade

"RENT" third grade 8-9 Notice- ANGEL IS HERE! *breaks into the song "Celebrate"* Okay I'm good. I'm just very hyper right now. Mark and Roger meet Angel. YAY! It will take me a long time to get over the fact that ANGEL IS HERE! *Starts dancing like crazy then goes back to normal* Warning: Angel and Mimi know spanish so I may have them speak a bit of spanish. Okay I'll just start the story now. One last thing I can't put the little accent marks on certain words, but I'll translate at the end. Alright so the kids are going to the museum at one point and I looked at a map of New York (I don't live there so I have to do my research in order to write my RENT fics) and the distance between Alphabet City and the museum was a LONG way. As I read on the museum's website there are quite a few exhibits that are past and aren't at the museum; I will be putting them in here because if you think about the general dates, then the exhibits would be different then than now. And just for the record I am NOT going to take ANY credit for any exhibits I may mention here so please don't sue me. Any exhibits I mention belong to the Children's Musuem of Manahattan.

Roger Davis was packing his school supplies into his backpack. He had just celebrated his 8th birthday and his best friend, Mark Cohen was about to turn 8.  
"I wonder what third grade will be like." He wondered aloud as he finished packing his things. He picked up the small black Fender electric his parents had gotten him. He put it into its case and ran out to eat some waffles with whipped cream. A rare treat for him. (A/N: This really is a rare treat for me so I put it in here)  
"Hi Roger, you ready to go?" Mrs. Davis asked. "Yep. All my stuff's packed and I have my guitar." Roger said.  
"Good." Roger's father told him as he walked in.  
"Hey Dad. Can I go to Mark's after school today?" Roger asked.  
"Did Mark invite you?" Mr. Davis asked. Roger nodded. "Okay then sure. Go ahead and have fun."  
"Great thanks Dad." Roger told him, giving him a hug as he ran to the door.

When Roger and his father got to school, Mark and Mrs. Cohen were there too. Roger ran to his small blond haired, blue eyed friend who wore glasses and a blue and white scarf. "Hey Rog. Good summer?" The smaller boy asked as the taller green eyed, dirty blond haired boy nodded.  
"You?" Roger asked.  
"Yep. And now on our way to our Third Grade classroom." Mark told him. Both boys said good-bye to their parent and ran into Alphabet City Elementary. There they spotted their two old friends. "Collins hey!" Roger greeted a dark skinned boy with a knit hat and long coat. "Hi Collins." Mark greeted.  
"Hey any greeting for me?" Another boy with dark skin asked as he walked forward.  
"August 23, 7:40 a.m. Here at Alphabet City Elemantary. Close on Benjamin Coffin III. Benny wants a greeting but will we give him one?" Benny scowled as Mark finished his sentence. "Alright. Hey Benny." Mark gave in and greeted him.  
"That's better. Hey Rogie." "Roger. And hey." Roger greeted. The three boys were talking calmly when the bell rang, making them all jump.  
"Let's get to class!" The all said in unison. They ran to Mr. A's room and took their seats. There was one new student. The rest were all people who Mark and Roger knew.  
"Hey Mimi Marquez returns!" Roger yelled as Mimi smacked the back of his head.  
"Maureen Johnson is here!" A sing song voice yelled from the door.  
"Can't Maureen ever make a quiet enterance?" Mark asked.  
"No I can't." Maureen replied. "Oh there's Joanne Jefferson!" She yelled in a sing song voice again.  
"Never introduce me like that again." Joanne said as she sat down. Then they noticed that the new boy was staring at them. Mimi walked over to him.  
"Hablas Espanol?" Mimi asked in Spanish.  
"Si. Que estan haciendo?" The new boy asked. He had tan skin and dark brown hair with brown eyes.  
"Nada. Nomas estabamos jugando. Como te llamas?" Mimi asked.  
"Angel Dumot Schunard." "Me gusta tu nombre." Mimi said, her eyes glowing. Angel nodded.  
"Como te llamas tu?" Angel asked.  
"Mimi. Mimi Marquez." Mimi replied.  
"Como se llaman ellos?" Angel asked.  
"Roger Davis tiene el pelo cafe. Mark Cohen tiene el pelo werro. Joanne Jefferson tiene el cabello mui cortito. Maureen Johnson es la que estaba gritando. Benjamin Coffin III no tiene pelo. Tom Collins tiene el sombrarro." Mimi replied.  
"Okay. Gracias."  
"Sabes ingels porque mis amigos no hablan espanol?" Mimi asked.  
"Si hablo ingles."  
"Alright. Should I introduce them to you or do you want to yourself?" Mimi said.  
"I will. Hey guys I'm Angel Dumot Schunard." He greeted.  
"Hey Angel." Collins greeted. "Mimi introduced me as Tom Collins, but my friends call me Collins." Angel nodded in response and then thier teacher told them to be quiet. Third Grade had officially begun.

When the bell rang for lunch the bohemians ran to the playground. Angel and Mimi were really getting on great and Collins kept trying to talk to Angel. Roger carried his guitar with him like always and Mark was filming everyone.  
"August 23 11:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time the group of eight is now in third grade. Today we meet Angel Dumot Schunard. He's a new student here and already has a bunch of friends." Mark narrated.  
"Hey Mark." Angel greeted the camera as he acted as though he was going to kiss the lense. Mimi laughed and grabbed Mark's scarf that April had given him.  
"Hey! Mimi give that back!" Mark yelled. He shoved his camera into Angel's chest and ran after Mimi.  
"There's Mark chasing Mimi for a scarf. Maybe Roger can tell us why Mark is so upset about his scarf." Angel turned the camera to Roger.  
"My friend April Ericsson gave that to him when we were in Pre-School." Roger explained. "She also gave me this." He showed the dog-tag with April's picture on the back.  
"Oh okay." Angel replied. Then he turned the camera back to Mark and Mimi and watched intently as Mark continued to chase her. Angel sighed and shoved the camera at Maureen who filmed as Angel ran after Mimi. "Meems give him the scarf!" Angel called as she got closer to Mimi. Mimi threw the scarf at Mark who caught it and grabbed the camera back from Maureen. "Spoil sport." Mimi muttered, looking at Angel.  
"I just wanted to give him back his scarf." Angel replied. Mimi shurgged and ran to the bars that were set up outside so the kids could play on bars without going on the monkey bars.  
"Meems, what are you doing?" Angel asked.  
"I'm in gymnastics Ang." Mimi explained. Angel watched as Mimi swung herself off the bar and stuck a perfect landing. Maureen climbed up and hung upside down while Mimi continued doing gymastics moves. Mark was filming and Roger was playing his guitar.  
"Jo what are you writitng?" Benny asked as he walked forward.  
"Oh this is just a short essay on how laws could be improved." Joanne said holding up the 15 page long essay.  
"Oh yeah that essay is short alright. Absoluetly tiny." He replied sarcastically. Roger nodded in agreement to Benny.  
"I have no idea how she's that smart about laws." Collins remarked. Angel had just walked over and agreed with Collins. Mark stood there filming each of them. Roger sat next to Joanne and played his guitar while she tried to work. Maureen came and joined them a few seconds later while Mimi went over to the monkey bars where she showed just how well she could balance by walking along the side bar that held the monkey bars together, only to get into major trouble from the teachers. "Wow those teachers are worried! I'm a gymnist I think I can take care of myself. I'm not gonna fall!" Mimi protested after the teachers left.  
"It's okay Meems, we all get into trouble over stupid things." Roger told her, putting an arm around her shoulders. She shrugged him off and went back to the monkey bars. Joanne looked up but otherwise gave no idication that she had heard. Mimi and Maureen were now having a conversation about how gymnastics and ballet were the same and how they were different.  
"Rog, SMILE!" Mark yelled pointing his camera at Roger. Roger groaned and tried to get Mark to quit.  
"Mark! I don't want to be on film!" Roger protested.  
"Jo how do you know all this?" Benny asked.  
"Most of it is my father's work. He's a lawyer and I intnend to be one too when I grow up. Ten pages are his the rest are mine."  
"Okay that makes more sense." Benny told her.  
"Ang, what are you doing?" Collins asked as Angel ran at the wall of the school, but stopped short upon hearing Collins.  
"Just watch this." Angel ran at the wall again before taking one step up the wall and doing a backflip.  
"ANGEL SCHUNARD!" An angry teacher ran at Angel.  
"Ohhh! Run boy run that's Quincy and she'll give you detention." Collins told him, Angel took off his shoes and socks and ran the oppisite direction. "GO ANGEL!" Collins yelled. Mark, Roger, Maureen, Benny, Mimi, Collins and even Joanne ran after him. kept after them.  
"Keep up guys!" Roger yelled. Mark, who still had his camera picked up the pace and nearly caught up to Roger. Maureen grabbed his hand and dragged him forward. Joanne ran faster herself and helped Collins catch up. Mimi jumped over a student who was turning a somersault. Mark stumbled and Mimi (who was behind him) caught him before he fell and kept him from falling. Angel was already really far ahead and still kept going, his neck length hair flew out behind him. It took the others a second to realize where he was going. He was running into a huge crowd of boys that were taller than him. Benny kept up an easy jog and burst into speed when he had to.  
"GO ANGEL!" Collins screamed. Angel looked back and ran faster still. Collins looked back and saw was now talking on a walkie talkie. Everyone sped up. Collins darted ahead and caught up to Angel.  
"Ang, she's got her talkie out! She's callin' in more people to catch ya! RUN FASTER!" Collins panted as he and Angel ran forward. Angel was beginning to breathe harder. Collins ran just behind him and grabbed his shoulders to help support him. Before they could reach the crowd Angel collapsed. The others caught up soon after while Collins tried to revive him.  
"Thomas what happened?" Benny asked.  
"Don't call me that first of all and second of all Angel ran out breath. Help me!" Collins begged. Roger scooped the Hispanic boy into his arms and ran. All the others followed and soon they were at the gate of the school.  
"Alright, we either keep running or we let Quincy get Angel." Roger suggested. They looked around and saw the back up had called for.  
"I say we run." Maureen said. The others nodded. "Let's go!" All of them burst through the gate and ran onto the street. Roger was in the lead with Angel still in his arms.  
"Where do we go?" Collins asked.  
"Central Park." Roger replied. "They can't catch us there." The group ran toward the park where they stopped near the lake. Angel was laying on the ground where Roger had layed him. Mimi put her ear to his lips and felt warm breath.  
"He's alive. Thankfully." Mimi told them all. Collins sighed in releif and nearly fell over himself. Angel awoke and he was still brething hard, but it had a more regular pattern to it now.  
"Where's Quincy?" He asked as soon as he sat up.  
"We lost her. You fainted from exhaustion and Roger carried you to Central Park and we all followed." Collins explained.  
"Oh. Wait a second, you mean we ditched school!" Angel screamed. Everyone looked at each other and nodded. "AYE NO! Tenemos que regresar!" Angel muttered loudly in fluent Spanish.  
"Angel, calmate. No pueden aser nada." Mimi replied. Angel sighed and relaxed.  
"What should we do while we're here?" Raoger asked the group.  
"Well we have to go back for our stuff, we can't just leave it at school." Mark said.  
"But if we do that then we'll get into major trouble." Joanne pointed out.  
"We already are." Maureen reminded her. "Oh great! My parents are going to kill me!" Angel gasped as tears came to his eyes. Mimi pulled him into a hug.  
"Calm down Ang. We'll go back, but we'll say that you got sick so that at least you won't get into any more trouble." Mimi told him. Angel only cried harder. Collins and all the others joined into the hug. Angel was in the middle of all of them. Mimi and Collins were the two in the middle who were both holding him.  
"I can't beleive we ran away from school." Angel gasped.  
"We did what we had to do." Roger told Angel.  
"Yeah we couldn't let Quincy skin you alive just for that." Collins said with a grin. Angel giggled slightly and his crying stopped.  
"While we're here, what can we do?" Mimi asked. "Why don't we play a game of tag?" Maureen suggested, but then Ms. Quincy ran up to them, gasping for breath.  
"You eight are in SO much trouble!" She yelled at them. The boho's all looked at each other. Angel's eyes went wide with fear.  
"Hey we can't blame poor Angel for running away from you." Roger told her, standing up.  
"Yeah. He didn't do anything wrong!" Mark agreed quickly as he stood up.  
"Exactly." Maureen said standing up.  
"We tried to help him." Mimi defended as she too joined the group.  
"He fainted from exhaustion so we were helping!" Collins stood protectivley in front of Angel.  
"Yeah." Joanne spoke against a teacher for the first time. She even stood up against the teacher.  
"You saw exactly what happened." Benny said.  
"Don't put any blame on them." Angel said as he stood up behind Collins. "It was my fault."  
"No it wasn't. It was us who carried you off." Collins told him. "I know, but I'm the one who got into trouble so you shouldn't be blamed for that." Angel replied.  
"No matter ALL of you are in trouble. Mr. Schunard is in trouble for the backflip. Mr. Collins is in trouble for helping him escape. Mr. Davis is in trouble for ditching school, Mr. Cohen is in trouble for the same reason. Miss Johnson, Miss Marquez and Miss Jefferson are all in trouble for helping him escape and for ditching. Mr. Coffin is also in trouble for that." Ms. Quincy told them. She led them all back to the school.

The eight sat in chairs in the principals office.  
"What were you eight thinking?" The principal asked.  
"Well we were thinking that helping a friend would be a good thing." Roger replied.  
"Yeah." The others agreed.  
"Well you were wrong." The principal said.  
"How?" Mimi asked.  
"You helped that friend into trouble." The principal replied.  
"But we also kept him away from possibly going to the hospital." Collins defended.  
"But you actually ran OFF school grounds!" The principal replied. "We were going to come back." Maureen replied.  
"No you weren't. Ms. Quincy heard you say that you were going to play tag."  
"Yeah we were gonna play tag on our way back to school." Angel covered.  
"You were going to play tag as you came back?"  
"Yes." Mark agreed.  
"You can stick to that story, but it still doesn't explain why you deliberatly disobeyed a teacher and left the grounds while KNOWING that you would get in trouble."  
"We left the grounds because we lost track of where we were going." Benny told him.  
"Really?" "Yes." Joanne replied.  
"Well I'll let you off with a warning this time, and no parents will be called, but all of you will have to sit out of recess for two days." The principal told them.  
"Alright." The eight agreed. They left the office and walked back to class.  
"Well that was easy." Collins remarked. The others laughed, but agreed anyway.  
"I'm jst glad he decided not to call our parents." Angel told them. Collins gave the smaller boy a quick hug and they all went straight to their table.

The week passed quickly for the boho kids. That weekend, Mark invited all of his friends to go to the Children's Museum of Manhattan. Of course all of them agreed. They would be meeting at Mark's house and Mark's parents would be driving them there. Roger arrived first, then Angel, after Angel came Collins, Maureen was next, then Benny and finally Joanne.  
"Is everybody here?" Mr. Cohen asked Mark who nodded. "Alright let's go. Now kids we have a long drive ahead of us so do you think you'll be bored?" He asked them. They shook their heads no. "Alright then out to the car!" He called. The eight bohos ran out to the car and got in. Everyone buckled their seatbelts and Mr. Cohen drove off. Mrs. Cohen would be staying at home. Mark sat in the middle, Roger on Mark's left and Maureen on Mark's right with Joanne next to Maureen. Collins sat in the middle in the back with Angel on his left and Benny on his right with Mimi sitting next to Angel and behind Roger. "What can you do at a museum?" Angel asked, slightly embarrased that he didn't already know.  
"We're going to a museum especially for kids so I guess there will be things for kids." Maureen replied.  
"Like toys?" Roger asked.  
"Yeah." Collins replied.  
"What else?" Mimi asked.  
"Maybe arts and crafts." Mark said.  
"I just hope it isn't boring." Benny said.  
"It won't be." Joanne said. All eight shrugged and split up into conversations. Mark and Roger were playing rock, paper, scissors. Collins and Angel were talking. Maureen and Joanne were talking about things only girls could find interesting while Benny and Mimi talked about how school was going.  
"Ha I win!" Roger shouted after their tenth rock, paper, scissors match.  
"I almost won!" Mark protested.  
"But it was ME who won in the end." Roger told him.  
"True."  
"Good work Rog." Mimi told him.  
"Thanks Meems." Roger replied. It was Collins who hinted that Mark had also played a part in the game.  
"Ang, do you think Mark deserves some credit too?" Collins asked Angel. He nodded.  
"Of course. Mark good try." Angel rewarded Mark.  
"Thanks. At least someone tells me that." Mark told the group.  
"Good work Marky." Maureen told him.  
"Mo don't call me that!" Mark replied.  
"Oh so you don't thank me then." She replied.  
"Oh sorry, thanks but don't call me that!" He told her.  
"You two pick on each other a lot." Roger observed.  
"No we don't!" Maureen and Mark shouted at the same time.  
"Yes you do."  
"Do not!" Mark replied.  
"Yes!"  
"No!"  
"Yes!"  
"Yes!" Mark replied.  
"No! Wait, oh darn!" Roger realized his mistake.  
"Good work Marky." Maureen told him.  
"Now that time I won." Mark told Roger proudly.  
"Yeah, but you tricked me!"  
"But I won."  
"You tricked me."  
"Oh shut up the both of you!" Collins exclaimed. Mark and Roger fell silent.  
"Thank you Thomas." Benny said.  
"Hey, don't call me Thomas, Benjamin!" Collins spat back. "I won't if you won't call me Benjamin!" Benny replied. "And you all say that Maureen and I fight. Look at the rest of us." Mark spoke up. At his comment everyone burst out laughing.  
"Hey he's right!" Roger said while laughing.  
"He is." Collins agreed. When they calmed down, they realized that they were almost to the museum. "They DO say that time flies when you're having fun." Maureen remarked.  
"Well it seems that saying is true then." Joanne said. Then the van pulled into the driveway of the museum.  
"Here we are kids." Mr. Cohen told them. Mark climbed over them and shoved open the door so the boho kids could get out. Mr. Cohen told them all to get a partner to hold hands while they walked through the parking lot. Maureen ran straight to Mark and gripped his hand tightly. Roger shyly took Mimi's hand. Collins and Angel held hands and Benny and Joanne partnered up.  
"Watch for cars." Mark's father called.  
"Okay!" Mark spoke for all of them. Maureen all but dragged Mark to the sidewalk in her excitment to get into the museum. Roger and Mimi joined them shortly. Colllins and Angel ran up to join them and Joanne and Benny walked like two mini adults.  
As they walked inside the partners quickly dropped each others hands, but Angel didn't let Collins' hand go right away. Collins didn't seem to notice, until he realized that he was holding a very warm hand in his own. Angel and Collins both blushed and let each others hands go. "Ang, come look at this!" Mimi called as she ran further into the museum. Angel looked around. It was amazing. There were kids everywhere and so many different rooms. The boho's ran further inside for a better look at what they could do here. Not much was meant for eight and nine year olds but they decided to look around anyways. They went straight to the exhibit called 'The Art of Andy Warhol'  
"Whoa." Roger remarked as soon as he saw the art.  
"You can say that again." Collins replied.  
"Dang this is cool." Maureen commented.  
"Masterpeices." Was Joanne's comment.  
"If I could do that, I would be SO happy." Benny told them.  
"I bet you could but you'd have to practice a lot." Angel responded.  
"I like the self portraits." Mark said randomly.  
"Me too." Mimi agreed. The boho kids looked around a bit more before Mark's father told them it was time to leave. The eight boho kids partnered up with the same people to cross the parking lot to get to the car. "That was an awesome trip!" Roger exclaimed.  
"Yeah, thanks for bringing us Mr. Cohen!" Muareen told Mark's father.  
"No problem. Glad to know that you kids had fun." Mr. Cohen replied.

When they arrived at Mark's house, they all got to play until their parents showed up.  
"Bye Mark!" Roger called, he was the first to leave.  
"Later Rog!" Mark called back as the taller boy waved and left with his parents. Next came Angel's mother.  
"Mark, I'll see you at school on Monday!" He called.  
"Okay, bye Angel!" Mark yelled. Now only Collins, Maureen, Joanne and Benny remained. Until Benny's parents arrived.  
"Later Mark." Benny gave Mark a high five and ran to his car.  
"Later Benny." Mark replied. Collins was next.  
"See ya later Marky." Collins teased as he ran off.  
"Bye Collins." Joanne was next.  
"Thanks for inviting me Mark!" She called.  
"No problem. Thanks for coming." Then Mimi left.  
"Bye Mark!" "See you!" He called after her. Now only Maureen was left alone with Mark. He squirmed a bit. This was the first time he had ever been alone with a girl before and it made him a bit nervous. Thankfully Maureen was only there for ten more minutes.  
"Bye Marky." Maureen ran at him and nearly toppled him over in a very tight hug around the neck until he was gasping for breath.  
"Bye Mo." He responded when she had let him go. Mark waved as her car dissapeared around the corner.

On Monday, the class got the chance to tell what they had done over the weekend. Mark, Roger, Mimi, Angel, Collins, Benny, Maureen and Joanne all told the story about the museum, but of course a few details were different according to each person who told it. Mark's was story was detailed and it was told in a bit of a shy tone (which Maureen thought was adorable.) Roger's version of the story lacked details and got off topic. Mimi's story was had very vague details and a lot of emotion to it. Angel spoke with a bit of a stutter in his voice and shuffled his feet a lot, but the story itself was good. Collins told his version with details that mostly included what he and Angel had seen that the others sometimes missed. Benny talked about every detail and he managed to say it all confidently. Maureen over exhageratted every detail. Joanne told it like Benny had, she told it in detail and confidently.  
"Thank you Mark, Roger, Mimi, Angel, Collins, Benny, Maureen and Joanne for sharing." Their teacher said. The eight then muttered variations of the words 'you're welcome'

At the end of the year Angel invited the boys to a sleep over at his house and Mimi decided to invite the girls since she lived on the same street as Angel. The eight waited for the weekend they would get to go to the sleepovers and when it came the boho kids couldn't get more excited.  
Angel waited for the boys to get to his house while Mimi waited for the girls at her house.  
Mark and Roger arrived at the same time at Angel's and Maureen arrived first at Mimi's. Benny and Collins showed up next as they carpooled and Joanne showed up at Mimi's. *  
At Angel's the boys were having a great time.  
"Hey guys, wanna know what we should do?" Roger asked.  
"Sure." Collins replied.  
"We should go crash the girls' party." Roger told them.  
"Mimi would kill us if we did that." Angel reminded him.  
"So what?"  
"I don't wanna make Mimi mad." Angel told him firmly.  
"I do. It'd be funny." Roger said.  
"I say we should." Collins agreed with Roger.  
"But, Collins don't you agree with me?" Angel asked.  
"It might be fun." Mark said.  
"Oh not you too!" Angel yelled.  
"Yes me too." Mark replied.  
"Fine. But if she asks whose idea it is we're saying it was Roger's." Angel told them.  
"Alright." They all agreed.

Meanwhile at Mimi's the girls were also having a great time.  
"Hey, it would be fun to go spy on the boys." Maureen spoke up.  
"But they might get mad." Joanne replied.  
"It WOULD be fun." Mimi agreed with Maureen.  
"C'mon Jo!" Maureen begged as she pouted.  
"Maureen, we could get into a LOT of trouble." Joanne replied.  
"But it'd be fun!" Maureen countered.  
"You don't care about getting into trouble?" Joanne asked.  
"No. Well maybe a little, but I still say it would be fun. What do you say Meems?" Maureen asked.  
"I say we should." Mimi agreed.  
"Let's go!" Maureen yelled.  
"But in case Angel gets upset, Maureen will take the blame. After all it WAS YOUR idea." Mimi told them.  
"That's fine." They agreed.

"Let's go boys!" *  
"C'mon girls!"

The two groups headed out at exactly the same time. The groups crept through the backyards. The boys carried no flashlight and were all wearing pajamas. The girls were dressed in some of Mimi's dark clothes, but wore pajamas under them and had no flashlight. Both made it through two bakyards before they met in the fifth one. Mimi was leading the girls and Roger was leading the boys. The backyard they were in had a lot of bushes and trees so it made the already dark night darker. Roger led the way for the boys, unknowing that Mimi was leading the girls the opposite direction. So it came as no surprise that he and Mimi screamed when they ran into each other.  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Roger screamed as he sidestepped a tree and ran into another, smaller girl.  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mimi screamed when she ran straight into Roger's chest. There was no doubt that their screams had been heard around the neighborhood.  
"MIMI!?" Roger asked.  
"ROGER!?" Mimi shot back.  
"What are you doing here?" They asked in unison.  
"We were going for a walk." Roger lied.  
"In your pajamas?" Mimi asked.  
"Yes. What about you?"  
"Same."  
"Looking like a ninja?" He asked.  
"Yes."  
"If I didn't know better I'd say you were going to spy on us." Roger told her.  
"It was Mo's idea. And I'd say you guys were gonna crash our party." Mimi told him.  
"It was my idea." Roger said.  
"I figured." Mimi retorted. Roger stuck his tongue out at Mimi. She stuck her tongue out back at him. Maureen and Joanne came up behind Mimi and Angel, Collins, Mark and Benny came up behind Roger. The boys ran into Roger causing him to scream again and this time Roger took off running back towards Angel's house. Mimi saw the boys.  
"You'd better get home." Mimi told them just before Maureen and Joanne ran into her causing her to scream and run home with the other two close behind.

The next morning they met on the street and talked about what they had done at their sleepovers. Mimi and Roger refused to talk to each other and if they did it was to argue.  
Later that afternoon Mimi said goodbye to Maureen and Joanne and they went home. Angel said goodbye to Roger, Mark, Collins and Benny and they went home.  
It was going to be another typical summer for the boho kids.

A/N: This is a long chapter. Please reveiw/comment and tell me if you liked it or tell me how to improve. Thanks. 


	6. Fourth Grade

"RENT" fourth grade 9-10 Notice: The Bohemians were and will be refferd to as Bohemians from now on. Angel gets his first drum lessons and ends up begging for a drumset. The question now is will he get one? Mark gets a new camera and Roger's hair grows out a bit more so it now covers half of his ears. Maureen is getting drama lessons. Mimi has started hip hop and develops a love for dance. Benny begins to doubt his friends will get far in the arts. Joanne begins learning about law. Collins is introduced to Philosophy and begins getting more involved. Also Angel and Collins become friends, only to be teased due to the fact that Angel acts a bit more female then he should be and they act a bit frendlier around each other than with their other friends. This story does change points of view, it's slightly subtle but it's there. Oh and new chararcters are introduced. The explanation for why they weren't inrtoduced last chapter/part is explained later. So sorry about the wait between posts/updates.

Roger Davis was at the playground of his school. He had his guitar and his best friend Mark Cohen was filming him as he sang the song he had written not to long ago. When he finished Mark applauded.  
"Great work. And that was Roger singing his new song." Mark told the camera. Roger grinned and ran a hand through his dirty blond hair. His green eyes glittered with amusement as Mark tried to turn off the camera. Roger was now 9 years old and his hair covered half of his ears.  
Mark was 9 as well, and his eyes were as blue as ever. Covering his eyes were glasses. His blond hair laid flat on his head as it had grown out a bit.  
"Mark, Roger!" A sing song voice called.  
"Maureen Johnson!" Mark greeted as the slender brunette with brown eyes ran over to them. She pulled Mark into a bone crushing hug and he gasped for breath.  
"Maureen I think you're killing Mark." Roger commented as Mark's face started to turn slightly red from lack of air.  
"Oh sorry Marky." Maureen released him and went over and gave Roger a similar hug.  
"Hey boys, and girl." A voice called. It was Thomas Collins, he had dark skin brown eyes and a knit hat on.  
"Collins!" Mark and Roger greeted at the same time. They turned again upon hearing a slightly higher male voice called out their names.  
"Angel Dumot Schunard has arrived!" Angel greeted in his singing voice.  
"Hey how have you been boy?" Collins greeted. Angel blushed slightly about being referred to like that before responding.  
"I've been good. How about you THOMAS?" Angel put emphasis on Collins' first name.  
"Fine thanks. But don't call me Thomas." Angel nodded. Angel had tan skin and chocolate, kind looking brown eyes.  
"Oh my gosh it's Joanne Jefferson!" Maureen called hopping up and down as she spotted the other girl, who also had tan skin and dark eyes.  
"Maureen, calm yourself." Joanne told the over excited, slightly hyper Maureen.  
"Benjamin Coffin III. Here?" Maureen asked when she spotted the dark skinned boy with hazel eyes.  
"Hey boys and girls." He greeted.  
"Don't forget me!" Mimi Marquez yelled as she joined her friends.  
"August 23, 7:30 am Eastern Standard Time. All the Boho friends have arrived at school. Say hello everyone!" Mark told them. Angel went first.  
"Hi Marky." He greeted in a high pitched rather flirtatious voice, while he winked at the camera.  
"Don't call me Marky." Mark told him. Angel shrugged and walked to the side. Collins ran up and waved.  
"Hey!" He yelled. Roger ran up and started acting like and idiot for the camera. Maureen ran up with Joanne and waved while Joanne began looking for the best and fastest way to escape and finally decided on tickling Maureen until she was released.  
"It looks like Angel has tried something new on today." Mark said when he saw Angel's nail polish.  
"Yeah I found this in my mom's stuff in the bathroom and I liked it so I put it on." Angel explained. It was a dark violet and it went perfectly with his dark jeans, purple shirt and black platform boots.  
"Ang I love your boots!" Mimi exclaimed when she saw the boots.  
"Thanks Meems." Angel told her.  
"No problem." Mimi replied, giving Angel a hug.  
"Hey, like, why are you wearing that?" Roger asked rather rudely.  
"Since when do you say 'like' in front of something?" Collins shot back, a bit more defensivly then he should have. He didn't know why he had to defend Angel, but he felt he had to.  
"Calm down I'm just asking." Roger told Collins who promplty tried to spring at Roger and was stopped by Angel.  
"It's alright that he asked, even if it was slightly rude. But if you remember I said the answer to that question." Angel told Roger while putting a hand on Collins' arm to keep the two from any type of argument. Collins felt a slight shiver go through him when Angel touched him and when Angel took his hand away, the place on his arm where it had been stayed warm as though Angel's hand had branded him. "Tom!" Angel called in his high voice. Collins looked up to see Angel waving to him to follow.  
"Coming, and don't call me Tom." Collins grabbed Angel around the shoulders and pulled him into a hug and keeping him there until they had caught up to their friends, and forgot to let him go. Roger was, like always, playing his guitar and singing his newest song while Mark filmed the song before re-winding his camera, putting in new film and filming the others. Mimi sat staring at Roger who didn't notice her. Maureen and Joanne stood close together watching and Mark stood right at Maureen's free side. Benny stood near Mimi. When Roger finished his song, the entire group broke out into applause.  
"Great job Roger!" Collins yelled, realizing that he was still holding onto Angel. Angel didn't seem to mind, in fact he seemed to be enjoying himself. Roger noticed though.  
"Collins, why are you holding Angel?" Roger asked loudly enough for the others to hear. Mark, Maureen, Mimi, Joanne and Benny all turned to look at Collins and Angel. Both Angel and Collins blushed a very deep red. Mimi noticed however that her friend looked to be very happy when he was around Collins. "Hey I'm waiting for an answer!" Roger called.  
Angel and Collins were saved the trouble of answering by the bell.

When lunch came around the boho kids sat together at one table. Angel and Collins sat next to each other. Mimi sat in between Roger and Benny. Mark sat next to Maureen and Joanne sat next to Maureen. Roger hadn't forgetten his question.  
"So Collins about what I asked earlier..." Roger began but Collins inturrupted.  
"I WILL NOT answer that Rog." Collins said.  
"Aw please!?" Roger begged.  
"NO!" Collins replied firmly.  
"What's so bad about my asking?" Roger asked.  
"It's so bad because it's none of your business!" Collins shot back.  
"What did you and Angel start dating or something?" Roger asked.  
"No!" Collins and Angel yelled at the same time.  
"Well you two have seemed a lot friendlier around each other. Ever since that sleepover we had last summer at Angel's house." Roger pointed out.  
"Well we are friends." Collins replied.  
"We know, but it's like you're both obsessed about keeping each other safe." Roger told them.  
"Isn't that what friends do?" Everyone asked at the same time. Well except Roger of course.  
"Well sure, but these two hardly ever pay attention to anyone but each other when they're together." Roger pointed out.  
"So?" Mimi asked.  
"I think they like each other!" Roger mocked. At that Collins jumped out of his seat and chased Roger around the table. Angel hated when his friends fought so he chased Collins and pounced on him from behind, tackling Collins to the ground. Now Angel sat on Collins' back in a rather awkward looking position.  
"Let me go!" Collins yelled.  
"No!" Angel yelled back.  
"Yes!" Collins replied.  
"Not till you calm down!" Angel told him.  
"Angel you do realize how odd that looks right?" Roger asked when he saw the position the two were in.  
"Shut up." Angel replied. Angel got off Collins and helped Collins up. "C'mon. Let's go sit down." Angel said. The other boho kids were looking at Angel in surprise. It was the first time they had ever seen his strength, after all Angel was skinny and weak looking to his friends. Angel and Collins sat next to each other again and Roger next to Mimi. It took all day for Collins and Roger to speak again.

That weekend it rained. Angel was sitting alone in his room reading a book. After a few seconds he tossed the book down. It was boring.  
"I wish one of my friends would call." He muttered as he sat there on his bed. A few minutes later the phone rang.  
"Angel, phone!" His younger sister yelled bringing the phone up to him.  
"Thanks, Maria." Angel told her. "Hello?" He asked the person on the line.  
"Hey Ang." Collins' voice spoke back.  
"Hey Collins." Angel couldn't keep a note of pleasant surprise out of his voice.  
"How are ya?" Collins asked.  
"I'm good. How 'bout you?" Angel replied.  
"Bored as heck." Collins told him.  
"Yeah. I was reading and I got bored with the book."  
"Wow. You must be REALLY bored. I mean really, who reads on a weekend?" Collins asked.  
"Whatever Thomas. Anyways, I think I'm going to invite everyone over today, wanna come?" Angel asked. Collins thought for a moment before answering.  
"Sure. Just let me tell my mom."  
"Alright." "'Kay, hold on." Angel heard Collins put the phone down and heard his footsteps as he left the room. A few moments later, Collins was back. "She said it was fine."  
"Now I have to tell MY mom the plan." Angel told Collins.  
"Alright." Anglel put the phone down and ran down the stairs until he saw his mother.  
"Mama is it arlight if I have all my friends over today?" Angel asked.  
"Sure, go a head." She replied.  
"Thanks." Angel turned and ran back up the stairs, nearly ran into his older brother, Alex, and made it back to his room. Then he grabbed the phone. "Hey Collins, my mom said it was fine." Angel told his friend.  
"Alright. I'll be there soon."  
"Alright. Bye." Angel said.  
"Later." Collins replied. Then they both hung up. Angel found his friends' numbers and called up Roger, Mark, Mimi, Benny, Maureen and Joanne. Everyone had said they could come. Well everyone but Benny. An hour later, the people who could come had all come to Angel's house.  
Collins arrived first. Then Mimi, then Roger and Mark, after them came Maureen and Joanne was last.  
"Hey Angel!" Mimi yelled when she saw her friend. Mimi ran up and gave Angel a hug.  
"Meems! How are you girlie?" Angel asked. Maureen and Collins were talking. Mark and Roger were having some sort of minor argument over something or other. Mimi went over to see what was going on. Typical Mimi.  
"Roger took my camera!" Mark yelled.  
"Did not! You LET me see it!" Roger replied.  
"No! You took it from me!" Mark pushed Roger.  
"No I didn't!" Roger shoved the blond boy down.  
"You two calm down!" Angel yelled at his two friends.  
"Hey, Angel, you didn't tell us you had cookies!" Maureen yelled.  
"Oh yeah. Those are for you guys. Go ahead and get some." Angel replied.  
"THANK YOU!" Maureen screamed, flinging her arms around Angel.  
"No problem Mo." Angel told her, gasping for breath as Maureen had hugged him tightly around the neck. Maureen released him and ran for the cookies.  
"What kind are they?" Joanne asked.  
"There are two kinds. I have chocolate chip and sugar cookies." Angel said.  
"THERE ARE SUGAR COOKIES?!" Maureen asked. Angel nodded.  
"Dude, I love you!" Maureen screamed.  
"Love you too, Maureen." Angel replied quietly. He sighed. Maureen was easily the one who was weirdest. Then Angel decided to put a bit of music on for them. "Who's up for a dance contest?" Angel asked. Maureen heard this and ran out of the kitchen, clearly hyper from the cookies.  
"ME, ME, ME, ME, ME!" She screamed.  
"MAUREEN! Calm down!" The group yelled at her. Rather than quiet down, she fell over giggling. Mark and Joanne walked over and helped her stand up. Maureen kept giggling. "Maybe I shouldn't have made SUGAR cookies." Angel said as he watched Maureen get dragged out of the living room.  
"No really?" Roger replied sarcastically.  
"Shut up. Anyways, if the rest of you want some, go right ahead." Angel told them. "Then after Mo has recovered from her sugar rush, we can have the dance contest." After Angel finished talking the phone rang. Angel picked up.  
"Hello?"  
"Hey it's me." Benny's voice came from the other line.  
"Benny, hi." Angel replied.  
"Listen is it too late to come over?" He asked.  
"No as long as you get over here in time for the dance contest." Angel told him.  
"Alright. Thanks Angel. See you all in a few minutes. Bye." Benny said.  
"Later Benny." Angel hung up.  
"What'd he say?" Roger asked.  
"Wanted to see if he could still come over." Angel replied.  
"I thought he couldn't come." Mark said.  
"Maybe it was a change of plans." Angel told him.  
"Maybe. Or maybe he felt bad about not being able to come." Collins suggested.  
"That's possible. But he's been a bit more guarded around us. Haven't you noticed?" Mimi told them.  
"I've noticed." Maureen spoke up, though she was still hyper.  
"Me too. I think we ALL have. At least a little." Joanne said. That's when Alex came downstairs.  
"Hey Alex." Angel greeted dully.  
"What's up Shrimp?" Alex replied. "Who are your friends?" He asked. "Well this is Roger Davis." Roger waved from his place in the corner. "Mark Cohen is sitting at the table with his camera." Mark nodded in greeting. "This is Maureen Johnson." Maureen looked up from a cookie to wave. "This is Mimi Marquez." Mimi was sitting on the floor, petting Angel's cat. She looked up a waved slightly. "Jianne Jefferson is sitting on the couch." Joanne peered over the back of the couch to wave. "Benjamin Coffin III will be here soon. And this is Thomas Collins." Angel put his hand on Collins' shoulder. "Though he prefers to just be called Collins." Angel added as an afterthought.  
"So these kids are your friends Shrimp?" Alex asked.  
"Yeah. My best friends." Angel replied defensively.  
"Alright whatever Shrimp. Oh and hey guys I'm Alexander Dumot Schunard. I'm Angel's fifteen year old brother." Everyone waved at him and Alex said goodbye and stalked back upstairs. Angel thought that was the end of it until four year old Maria came barreling down the stairs. Angel looked about ready to beat himself repeatedly in the head.  
"ANGIE! Will you play dress up with me?" Maria asked. "I have friends over Maria." Angel replied.  
"They can play too. Please Angie." Maria begged.  
"Not right now." Angel's face was red from his sister asking him to play a little kid game in front of his friends.  
"Why not?" Maureen asked, having heard the conversation.  
"Mo, it's my four year old SISTER asking ALL of us to play with her." Angel replied.  
"I like to dress up." Maureen replied.  
"I do too." Mimi told them. "Alright Maria we'll play for a little while then you have to leave us alone." Angel told her. Maria squealed happily, reminding Angel of Maureen.  
"Thank you so so so much Angel!" Mairia jumped onto Angel and hugged him tightly. Angel carried the four year old into her room and the others followed. Maureen squealed the second she walked into Maria's room. Angel put her down and Maureen and Maria went off to find clothes.  
"Hey Angel, how come we didn't meet Alex and Maira at your party last summer?" Mark asked.  
"They were out. My mom dropped them off at friends' houses too. Alex didn't want to hang around with kids and Maria was, at the time anyways, very shy around my friends." Angel explained. "Oh. Why does she call you 'Angie' sometimes?" Mark asked.  
"She grew up not being able to say 'Angel' so in a way I gave her unspoken permission to call me by a nickname." Angel replied.  
"You never mentioned them." Roger told him.  
"You never asked." Angel said with a grin.  
"Oh." Roger replied. Angel laughed slightly at his dumbfounded expression.  
"Angie, are you and your friends ready to play?" Maria asked.  
"Sure. How about you guys?" Angel asked the others.  
"I guess we are." Collins replied.  
"Don't worry. She has a few male clothes. Before you ask, I used to ask her to get some because I felt that if she had clothes for both genders I would have more of an option. That stayed with me so now I'm willing to wear male or female clothes, so you guys can wear the guy clothes." Angel told them.  
"Thanks Angel." The boys told him.  
"No problem." Angel replied. The boys found the male clothes and put them on. Angel found a blue dress and his platforms. He put them on and everyone in the room was amazed at the difference. Angel also found a crown and a bit of makeup. It shocked them all. All Angel needed to look like a real girl was longer hair.  
"Okay, so Roger, you're the handsome prince. Mark, you're the jester, Collins you're the brave knight. Angie, you'll be the knight's forbidden love. Mimi you will be Angie's sister and Roger's love. Maureen, you will be the mother of Mimi and Angie. Joanne, you will be the evil queen who wants to take over the kingdom. I'll be the youngest sister of Mimi and Angie." Maria told them. "Angie you and your love start.  
"Alright." Angel raised his voice so he sounded more like a girl. He would do anything to play the part correctly.  
"The brave knight was just returning from battle. He was tired and he'd been gone for a year. He was going to the castle when he saw a young princess ready to greet him and take him inside." Maria narrated.  
"Hello, noble knight. Are you alright?" Angel began.  
"I'm fine, just a little tired." Collins replied.  
"I can help with that. Oh and I wish to know your name knight." Angel told him.  
"Sir Thomas." Collins replied. Angel grinned.  
"I'm Angel." He replied. Collins had been looking around, not quite at Angel. When he'd heard him introduce himself he looked at Angel.  
"I'm beginning to wonder if I was not killed in battle." Collins said to no one in particular.  
"Why do you say that Sir Thomas?" Angel asked.  
"You're angelic, Angel." Collins said in almost a whisper. Angel was about to reply when the doorbell rang.  
"That must be Benny. I'll get it." Angel ran downstairs in his costume and answered the door. He'd been right it was Benny. "Hey Benny." Benny just stared.  
"Angel, what are you wearing?" Benny asked.  
"My sister and all the others are playing dress up. We were waiting for you." Angel explained.  
"You have a sister?" Benny asked this time.  
"And a brother. My sister is Maria and my brother is Alex. Maria is four and Alex is fifteen. Now c'mon, I want to get back to the scene." Angel told him. Benny allowed himself to be led upstairs and to Angel's sisters' room.  
"Angie who is that?" Maria asked.  
"I'm Benjamin Coffin III. You can call me Benny." Benny told the four year old.  
"Okay. Now back to the part where Angel was about to help Sir Thomas back to the castle." Maria announced. "Benny, you can dress up too. There's one boy outfit left." Maria told Benny.  
"Alright." Benny looked over at the other guys. All the guys except Angel had a guy outfit on. "Benny, you'll be the greedy prince who wants to marry Angel so that you can get the family's money, but you are mean to Angel." Maria said. "Now back to Angel and Thomas."  
"You're angelic, Angel." Collins said his last line again so that Angel could reply.  
"Let's get you to the castle, cleaned up and fed. Then I can show you to a room and you can stay there." Angel told him.  
"You really are an angel." Collins said.  
"Thank you." Angel grinned.  
"Now after they get to the castle, the greedy prince stops them and bgeins to ask a bunch of questions to Angel." Maira told them. Benny entered and stopped Angel in his tracks.  
"What are you doing?" Benny asked.  
"I was helping this knight. He showed up at the gates so I let him in." Angel replied meekly.  
"Will you introduce him to me?"  
"Sir Thomas, Benjamin. Benjamin, Sir Thomas. There you know each other." Angel introduced dully. That's when Benny stepped closer to Angel and seemed to loom over the smaller boy.  
"That's PRINCE Benjamin to you." Benny hissed at Angel. Then Collins stepped forward.  
"Prince or not, Angel was simply helping an injured knight and that, my prince, shows more loyalty then you will ever have." Collins stepped to Angel's defense.  
"If you wish to beleive that go ahead, but I feel it is right to warn you that Princess Angel is to be married to me." Benny replied. Then he stalked off.  
"Is that true Angel?" Collins asked.  
"My parents chose him. He seemed like such a good suitor for me that they chose him. He seemed nice enough, but now he's just mean." Angel told Collins.  
"Have you said anything?" Collins asked.  
"Not yet." Angel admitted.  
"Why would anyone want to hurt someone as amazing as you?" Collins asked. "Maybe he doesn't see it, but I do. If I were a prince I could be your suitor." "That's brilliant!" Angel yelled.  
"What is?" Collins asked.  
"You can pretend to be a prince and if you impress my mother more than Benjamin did then you shall be my husband!" Angel explained.  
"That's a great idea, but look at me I look nothing like a prince." Collins told Angel.  
"We can fix that later for now you should rest." Angel and Collins exited.  
"Now Angel and Mimi are in their room and they are talking about their problems." Maria told them. "Maria, I don't think my friends are really enjoying this." Angel said in his regular voice to his four year old sister.  
"Alright, you guys can go if you want." Maria pouted.  
"I'll play with you later." Angel promised. "You guys can get out of costume now. Maria, can I wear this for a bit longer?" Angel asked his sister.  
"Yes, but I don't want it to get dirty." Maria told Angel.  
"Alright." Angel replied.  
"Thank you Angel." Roger told him after they had left Maria's room.  
"No problem." Angel replied. "Now what should we do?"  
"We could run around outside." Collins suggested.  
"Or you guys could come with me across the street for my first drum lesson." Angel told them.  
"Really?" Mimi asked.  
"Of course." Angel replied.  
"I didn't know you liked to play the drums." Collins told him.  
"Yep. Well I don't yet, but soon I will." Angel replied.  
"Is your teacher a boy or a girl?" Maureen asked.  
"Boy." Angel responded.  
"Are they good enough to teach you?" Joanne asked. Angel nodded.  
"I've heard him play." As Angel spoke he began to pull the costume off. He was wearing clothes under it of course, but during his attempts to get it off, his shirt got caught on on of the decorations that were on the bottom rim of the dress. Angel began muttering what sounded like different ways he was threatning to kill the dress. He pulled the dress again, but his shirt didn't simply come unatatched like he thought. Instead his shirt pulled up with the dress, as it did, Angel tried in vain to pull the shirt down and the dress off. Collins and Mimi rushed forward and pulled the shirt free. "Thanks." Angel's muffled voice said.  
"No problem." Mimi and Collins said in unison. "Maria, here's your dress!" Angel called up the stairs. "Now let's go." Angel led the way across the street to his teacher's house.  
"How long will we be here?" Benny asked.  
"About an hour." Angel said. "Alright."  
An hour passed and Angel was already doing really well with the drums. Angel put on music when they got back to his house and started the dance contest. All of them paired up into teams. Mark and Maureen, Joanne and Benny, Roger and Mimi and Angel with Collins. The rules, as Angel said, were that they had to come up with an improvised routine with their parnter. They would have to just dance and see what happened. Mark and Maureen went first.  
They managed to do pretty well considering how nervous Mark was. Joanne and Benny were next. They were much better dancers than they had thought they were and managed to get in quite a bit of partnering in. Roger and Mimi would have done better if Roger had thought to dance. Mimi had done most of the dancing and Roger had watched her rather than dance to much himself. Angel and Collins did great. Angel, like Mimi, knew how to dance and Collins was able to follow along pretty well. In the end no one could decide who won, so they deided that all of them won. After that, parents started showing up. Mark and Roger were getting picked up by Mark's mom. They waved as they left. Benny left. Joanne and Maureen left together. After them Collins left and finally Mimi walked home.

The next day, Sunday, it was still raining. Maureen groaned as she looked outside.  
"Will it ever stop raining?" She asked the rain outside.  
"Maureen, phone!" Her mother called. Maureen picked up the phone in her room.  
"Mom, I have the phone in my room!" Maureen replied. "Hello?"  
"Hey Mo." Came Mark's voice.  
"Hey, Marky." Maureen asnswered. "What are you doing?" Mark asked.  
"Not much. Just watching the rain fall I guess." Maureen replied.  
"Wow, that's exactly what I'm doing." Mark replied.  
"Amazing. Although, I bet just about all of our friends are doing the exact same thing right now." Maureen commented flatly.  
"Who knows, maybe it'll rain all year and flood the city." Mark joked. Maureen giggled a bit. Mark had a way of making people laugh with his slightly pathetic attempts at humor.  
"Maybe." Maureen replied. "Hey if that happened we'd be forced to evolve into a new type of human fish creature." Maureen told him.  
"Mo, that's called a mermaid, or merman." Mark informed her, with a slight laugh.  
"Oh. Anyways, why'd you call?" Maureen asked.  
"I had nothing to do. Roger went to get a shot or something, so I couldn't call him. Joanne won't pick up the phone. Angel is in drum lessons, Collins went grocery shopping with his mom. Benny well, he said he's 'out' somewhere. Mimi told me she's going to dance lessons. So finally I decided to call you." Mark told her.  
"I had the same thing happen earlier today. Only earlier today, YOU wouldn't pick up the phone." Maureen told him.  
"Oh sorry about that. I was at the dentist. They said I need braces." Mark told her.  
"Your teeth look fine to me." Maureen told him.  
"Thanks, I guess. They said that my top teeth were spaced out. I didn't notice before. Did you?" Mark asked.  
"No I never noticed that." Maureen told him. "I mean, like, I could see it sometimes, but you hardly open your mouth unless it's to narrate what you're filming." Mark laughed.  
"Yeah, you're right. Well I have to go to an orthadonist, I think it's called, tomorrow. They'll tell me if I get the braces now or later." Mark told her.  
"Yeah. Anyways, how's Cindy?" Maureen asked.  
"The same. She's saying how great it'll be once she leaves for college." Mark told Maureen. "Why wasn't she around last year again?" Maureen asked.  
"A school trip." Mark said. "She went on the foriegn exchange student thing and she spent quite a bit of time out of the country last year." Mark replied. "Wow."  
"Yeah."  
"Wait, why didn't you tell us about her again?" Maureen asked.  
"Well, no one really bothered to ask, so I didn't bring it up." Mark replied. "That is until last summer when it was Cindy who picked me up after Angel's sleep over."  
"Oh yeah." Maureen said.  
"Guess what I got yesterday before I went home." Mark spoke up randomly.  
"What did you get Marky?" Maureen asked.  
"I got a new hamster. His name's Rufus." Mark replied.  
"Why'd you name him Rufus?" Maureen asked.  
"I really don't know. He just looked like a Rufus, so I named him Rufus." Mark replied.  
"Wow." Maureen told him. "How does he like his new home?" Maureen asked.  
"I think he likes it. The only thing is I think he would like it better if Cindy hadn't hung a poster of the Cheshire Cat from 'Alice in Wonderland' on the wall right by his cage." Mark told her. "Why don't you take it down?" Maureen asked.  
"I have to wait for Cindy to leave so I can hang it somewhere else. Preferably out of Rufus' line of sight." Mark said. Maureen heard a bark outside her door. Mark must've heard it over the phone, because he asked about it.  
"What was that bark?" He asked.  
"Oh that was Tenor." Maureen replied.  
"Your dog?" Mark asked.  
"Yeah."  
"I didn't know you had a dog!"  
"Well now you do."  
"Wow. Why'd you name him Tenor?" Mark asked.  
"When he barks, his voice is higher than the other dogs, so I named him Tenor." "What kind of dog is he?" "He's a Labrador." Maureen told him. "Cool. Anyways, my mom is yelling for me to get off the phone, so bye Mo." Mark told her.  
"Bye Marky." Maureen hung up and put the phone down. She truly enjoyed when her friends called.

The first few months of school passed and Halloween came along. Mimi and Angel were in the process of planning out a Halloween party.  
"Hey guys, Mimi and I are having a party for Holloween this year. We can go out trick or treating then we all go to Mimi's and we have a party. And since Halloween is on Saturday this year, it's also a sleepover. Boys will come with me after the party and girls stay with Mimi." Angel explained.  
"I know for sure I can go." Mimi said with a grin.  
"I can too." Angel agreed. "Or course we can go, we planned it!" Mimi nodded.  
"I should be able to go." Maureen told them.  
"I know I can." Mark said.  
"Me too." Roger agreed.  
"I can check, but I'm pretty sure I have to stay home with a buch of grown ups who won't stop telling me how much I've grown. Then they ask me to play with a bunch of little kids who cry all the time." Benny told them.  
"I'll ask, but I'm pretty sure I can go." Joanne said with a shrug.  
"Okay. Now the big question is what are you all going as?" Angel asked.  
"A zombie rock star duh." Roger told them. Everyone stared at him. "What?" They shook their heads and went back to the conversation.  
"I'm going as the Wicked Witch of the West." Maureen told them.  
"As in from the Wizard of Oz?" Mark asked. Maureen nodded. "Cool, I'm going as CB from Starlight Express."  
"That's awesome. I'm going as a veteranarian." Joanne said.  
"Cool. I'll be going as a cat." Mimi told everyone.  
"That's awesome. I'll be going as the Pink Panther." Angel announced.  
"It'll be awesome to see your costume Ang. I'll be going as a mad scientist." Collins told them.  
"Neat. I'm going as The Wizard of Oz." Benny said. "I can't wait for Halloween!" Angel exclaimed loudly while jumping around. "Me either!" Mimi agreed. Thier celebration was cut off by the bell. It was then that the bohemians noticed that Angel had changed his nail polish to October colors. Black and orange.  
"Hey Angel, your nails are perfect for Halloween." Mark commented.  
"Thanks. I'll be painting them pick for the party so it'll match with my costume." Angel informed them.  
"Cool!" Maureen squealed. Angel nodded. Roger then ran at a playground toy turtle that was meant for the younger students and he tried to jump over it.  
"Roger, what are you doing?" Mimi asked.  
"Rock stars jump off and sometimes over things don't they?" He replied. He almost made it, but since Roger wore shoelaces that were long enough to trail on the ground they caught on the turtle's head. Roger didn't think too much about it until he realized that his foot wasn't coming loose. He forgot that he'd double knotted the laces so they wouldn't untie when ever he was running around. Roger felt himself start to fall, his foot still attached to the turtle's head. He twisted in a last attept to not hurt his leg. Unfortunatley, he didn't twist in time and he fell hard on the sidewalk. He landed right on his left arm, and the others heard a crack as his arm broke.  
"Roger!" The boho kids yelled in unison. They crowded around him and saw that tears were streaming down the boy's face.  
"Guys help me. My arm." Was all he managed.  
"Yeah we heard it break when you landed on it." Maureen told him.  
"We need to get him to Mr. Anderson." Angel told them. He was the only one who had been thinking about that. "Roger did you hurt your leg at all?" Collins asked.  
"I think I may have sprained my ankle. It hurts really bad." Roger informed them. Benny ran to the side of his right arm and put Roger's right arm over his shoulder. His right leg had been the one to get caught so they had to be careful. "Who's strongest here?" Benny asked.  
"Collins." Angel said immediatly.  
"Collins you carry Roger. His right arm should be closest to you." Benny told Collins. Roger was still noticed that his broken arm had been sliced open when he'd fallen. Blood and dust covered his shirt and arm. Angel, being lightest and fastest, ran to the classroom.  
"Mr. Anderson!" Angel called.  
"Angel, what are you doing? You know running anywhere but the playground is against the rules."  
"Mr. Anderson, it's Roger." Angel told him. Collins was carrying Roger as quickly as he could without moving him around to much. Mr. Anderson and Angel met them halfway to the classroom.  
"Roger what happened?" Mr. Anderson asked.  
"I tr-tried to jump o-over the turtle i-in the little k-kids playground." Roger told him. He was sniffling since he was still crying. "Let's get you to the nurse." Mr. Anderson took Roger from Collins and began to carry the boy to the nurse. The other boho's followed him.  
"It was so close to Halloween too. Now he may not be able to go to the party." Mimi said sadly. They all arrived at the nurses' office and they gathered around to hear what she had to say.  
"What happened?" She asked, looking at Roger.  
"I think he broke his arm. I noticed some blood in his hair too so I think he may have scraped his scalp a bit. He also has a sprained ankle." Mr. Anderson explained to her.  
"Thank you. I'll take good care of him." She promised. Roger sat there, his skin nearly white, but his eyes red and swollen from the crying. "Can we stay?" Mark asked.  
"Sure, until Roger either goes home or until the nurse tells you to leave." Mr. Anderson told them.  
"Alright." They agreed. "See you guys later then." Mr. Anderson left the boho kids in the nurse's office and they gathered around Roger.  
"Alright, so what happened?" The nurse asked.  
"I was trying to jump over the turtle in the little kids playground and my shoelace caught on its head and I fell. My ankle twisted, possibly sprained, and my arm broke. My head did scrape a bit of the ground and so did my arm and shoulder." Roger told her.  
"You've had quite a fall then." She told him. Roger nodded. Let's look at the scrapes first shall we?" She asked.  
"Whatever you want." Roger told her with a shrug.  
"Alright. Roger would you mind changing into a new shirt?" She asked.  
"I only have this one." Roger told her.  
"I have one you can use." She handed him a muscle shirt that Roger guessed was from the lost and found.  
"How will I get it on?" He asked.  
"Mark?" She asked.  
"Yeah?" He replied.  
"Will you help Roger change shirts?" She asked. Mark looked terrified at the thought of having to help Roger take off his shirt.  
"I will." Angel spoke up.  
"Alright." Angel took Roger's hand and dragged him into the bathroom. Angel then pulled one of Roger's arms out of his shirt. Then he gently got the other arm out. Angel then pulled the muscle shirt out and pushed Roger's head through the hole for the head. Then he put his non broken arm into the first sleeve then Angel helped him pull the broken arm through the other sleeve.  
"Thanks Angel." Roger told him.  
"No problem." Angel told him. The nurse began with the scrape on his head and found it to not be too bad. She rinsed it out with water and put gauze on the wound and a bandage around his head. Next she rinsed off the scrape on his shoulder and put a large band aid on it. Finally she got to his ankle. She removed his shoe and sock to look at it.  
"Can you move it?" She asked.  
"Barely." Roger told her. She put and ice pack on it and grinned when Roger winced at the sudden cold. After his ankle was bandaged she looked at his arm. "Your arm can't be moved at all right?" She asked him. "No." Roger told her. "Alright. I think we should call your mom and have her come pick you up so that you can go to the hospital." She told him.  
"Okay." Roger nodded sadly.  
"Okay." She called up his mother and told her about the accident. Mark, Maureen, Angel, Collins, Joanne, Mimi and Benny were all sent back to the classroom. Before they left they all said goodbye to Roger.  
"Bye Rog." Mark told his best friend."  
"Later Marky." Roger told him playfully. Mark grinned.  
"See you Rog." Collins told him.  
"I'll see you later Thomas." Collins gave the green eyed boy a glare, but his eyes shone with amusment.  
"Later Roger." Benny told him.  
"You all sound like I'm going to die. But later Benjamin." Roger said. They all grinned at his joke.  
"I hope you can still come to the party, bye Rog." Mimi told him with a hug.  
"Bye Meems." Roger hugged her back. "Hope your arm feels better soon." Angel told him.  
"Thanks Angel." Roger told him.  
"Good bye Roger!" Maureen cried over dramtically, nearly choking him.  
"Ah! Mo, I'm not going to die!" Roger gasped.  
"Bye Rog." Joanne said.  
"Later." Roger replied. "See you all later." Roger called with a grin on his face.  
"Bye Rog!" They called back as they left.

On Halloween night Joanne showed up to Mimi's wearing her vet costume. Mimi of course was already there and Angel had arrived only a few seconds before Joanne. Angel looked great in his Pink Panther costume. Mimi was wearing a black cat costume. Maureen showed up in green face paint, a dress, a witch hat, her hair was straight and she carried a broomstick. To top it off she had a toy monkey with wings sitting on her shoulder. Mark showed up in skates and with a red and white painted face. Collins showed up without a hat for once and his hair was sticking up everywhere. He carried a beaker with dry ice in water that was making steam rise from the top. Benny showed up as the Wizard of Oz, not the floating head, a real person and he wore a lab coat and glasses. No one expected Roger to show up, well Mimi knew he would. They had planned out a brilliant ebtrance for Roger who unknown to everyone but Mimi, had gotten his cast off earlier that day. "Hey Meems, do you know if Roger's coming?" Angel asked. Mimi only grinned. Then at exactly 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, all the lights in Mimi's house went off. Then a voice that sounded like Roger's echoed around over speakers that were set up.  
"HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL!" The voice shouted. "ARE YOU READY TO ROCK TONIGHT?!" It asked. The others looked at each other. Mimi grinned.  
"I'M WAITING FOR YOUR ANSWER!" "YEAH!" They shouted back.  
"CAN'T HEAR YOU!" It called.  
"YES!" They all screamed.  
"THEN PREPARE TO MEET THE ONE THE ONLY ROGER DAVIS!" Roger screamed as fog machines that Mimi and Roger had set up earlier began to fog up the room. Then a few bright lights came up. A sillouette was shown as a light from behind. Then the lights came up on Roger.  
"ROGER?!" A few of them excalimed in shock. No one expected Roger to be there. He was dressed as a zombie, his face painted grey with stitches across his face in black eyeliner. His throat had a bloody gash done in cosmetics across it and his clothes were torn and ragged. His shirt had spikes on the shoulders. His jeans had about four chains of different lengths hanging from them and he wore a spiked bracelet and collar. His hair, which was normally in his eyes was spiked up and the tips were dyed purple. His guitar had been decorated for Halloween even. It had a bunch of skull stickers and the strap was skulls as well. His nails were painted black and his lips were done up in black lipstick on the top lip and dark purple lipstick on the bottom. He wore combat boots that had chains hanging down them. His guitar was plugged into an amplifier and he was ready to play.  
"Hey guys!" He called out. "Are you ready to rock!?" He asked putting up the rock and roll hand gesture. "YEAH!" They called back with a large ammount of applause.  
"Go Roger!" A few of his friends called. "Alright! Great crowd. Let's rock!" He screamed. He began to play his guitar. When he was done his friends cheered for him. Mimi ran to Roger and hugged him.  
"Great job! We really got them didn't we?" She asked.  
"Yes we did. They all thought I wouldn't be here, but we got them!" He hugged her and picked her off the ground. Mark ran to Roger and gave him a high five.  
"Rog, I didn't know you could play like that!" Mark screamed.  
"DUDE! THAT WAS SO EPIC!" Maureen screamed so loud they all had to cover their ears.  
"Sorry Rog. She ate a cookie earlier." Mimi apologized.  
"I can tell." Roger replied. Angel ran to Roger and nearly tackled him.  
"THAT WAS AMAZING!" He shrieked. Next came Collins.  
"Man I thought you weren't going to be here!" Collins told Roger.  
"Well here I am."  
"How did you get permission to do this?" Joanne asked.  
"Mimi and I planned it as soon as I found out that I was getting my cast off today." Roger explained.  
"Well you did great!" Joanne told him.  
"Good job Rog." Benny tolds him.  
"Thanks everyone!" Roger shouted. "Now who wants to get the neighbors to come watch me?" Roger asked.  
"YEAH!" They all screamed.  
Roger ended up performing well into the night on the street.

The boho kids ended the school year in a great mood. The boho kids were ready to leave for the summer. Roger had easily had the most exciting year. Angel had learned how to play drums and often came to school with a ten gallon plastic pickle tub to pracitce. Mark had filmed them all year and Collins and Benny argued about random things while Joanne tried to figure out what they were arguing about. Maureen was starting to get obsessed with anything that happened on stage and managed to start drama classes. Mimi started dance classes and she loved it. Now they were getting ready for fifth grade.

A/N: Alright so the ending was weird. O.o Oh well. Anyways, please review/comment and enjoy. 


	7. Fifth Grade

"RENT" fifth grade 10-11 Notice: The Bohemians are entering fifth grade. Benny moves away for the year. Mark and Roger get into an argument that may end their friendship, but they can't remember what they were even fighting about. Maureen and Joanne are becoming friends but they also hate each other. Mimi and Angel are still great friends. Collins and Angel are trying to get their friends back to the way they were. Angel is still begging for a drumset. Poor Angel.

"August 23, 7:30 am Eastern Standard Time. Time for the start of a new school year. Pan left to now 10 year old Roger Davis playing his Fender guitar." Mark Cohen, 10, narrated. Roger, his best friend since preschool was there on the playground. Roger's dirty blond hair had grown longer still and was now styled with bangs that hung over one of his green eyes and hair that hung down to the very end of his neck. Mark's light blond hair had grown out just a bit but it was still short enough for him to spike it if he wanted or be able to just leave it be.  
"Mark really, you film us all year every year." Roger joked with his friend.  
"I know that." Mark replied.  
"Why?" "Why what?"  
"Why do you film us every year?" Roger asked.  
"I like the memories the films hold. One day you'll see that my films will be our best memories." Mark told him.  
"Cool." Roger replied and went back to his guitar.  
"Pan right to see Mimi Marquez and Angel Dumot Schunard walking over to us." Mark said as he filmed Mimi and Angel. "Hey Mark!" Mimi yelled.  
"Mimi!" He called back. "Angel!" He called waving to Angel.  
"Hi Mark!" Angel called, hopping over to him. "MARKY! ROGER! MIMI! ANGEL!" Maureen Johnson sang as she ran over to them. "I MISSED YOU ALL!" She screamed as she hugged every one of them.  
"Calm down Mo." Roger told her.  
"NEVER!" She replied evilly.  
"Did you eat suger this morning chica?" Angel asked.  
"Maybe." Maureen told them.  
"You did didn't you?" Mimi asked. Maureen nodded.  
"We need to get you to stop eating sugar in the mornings." Mark sighed.  
"NNNNOOOO!" Maureen screamed. "PLEASE NO!" She begged.  
"FINE!" Roger shouted.  
"YAY!" Maureen immediatly began to jump around. "Mo, do you ever stop being over dramatic?" Mark asked.  
"Nope!" She yelled and grabbed Mark's camera. "Say hi Marky!" (A/N: does the whole Maureen taking Mark's camera seem familiar? *hint* watch the Happy New Year scene in the 2005 movie)  
"Maureen, please give it back! You're gonna break it!" Mark begged going after Maureen who was trying to run away with Mark's camera.  
"No I won't, but you have to trust me." Maureen replied. With that Joanne Jefferson arrived, ran over and took the camera from Maureen.  
"This belongs to Mark doesn't it?" Joanne asked.  
"Oh shut it Joanne." Maureen replied, tossing her curly brunette hair over her shoulder. Mark watched her and stared at her for a moment.  
"Marky?" Maureen asked. Mark shook his head.  
"What?" He asked.  
"Come on." Maureen took his hand and led him back to their friends. "Thomas Collins!" Angel greeted when he saw Collins.  
"Angel!" He called back, as usual pulling Angel into a tight hug. Angel smiled and Collins soon had a huge grin on his face too. It would always make their friends wonder how they could be so happy around each other.  
"Hey guys!" Collins greeted the others. "Did you guys hear that Benny moved for the year?" Collins asked.  
"I heard about it, but I wasn't sure if it was true." Mark told them. "I did too." Roger replied.  
"Wow. We are now only seven friends." Angel told them. Mimi nodded.  
"Yep." Maureen agreed, going from hyper to subdued.  
"Mo, how do you do that?" Mark asked.  
"Do what?" Maureen replied.  
"You can go from emotion to emotion within seconds." Mark told her.  
"I'm an actress that's my job." Maureen told him dramatically.  
"Mo you don't HAVE a job yet." Mimi reminded Maureen.  
"Aw shut up Mimi." Maureen replied.

The boho kids were sitting at lunch. Roger in between Mark and Mimi, Maureen in between Joanne and Mark and Angel and Collins opposite all of them.  
"It's weird not having Benny here." Angel remarked.  
"Yeah it kinda is." Roger agreed.  
"When will he be coming back?" Maureen asked.  
"Soon I hope." Mark told them.  
"I think he said he was moving for the year." Collins told them.  
"Aw man." Mimi complained.  
"Well at least a year isn't so bad." Joanne tried to comfort them.  
"Dude, a year is like forever." Roger replied.  
"Not really Rog. Well maybe to you, but not the rest of us." Collins replied. Roger looked dumbstruck and Angel who had been drinking milk, almost spit it out, but managed to swallow it before he started laughing to hard.  
"Dude, breathe." Roger told Angel who, rather than stop laughing, laughed harder. Angel leaned on Collins' shoulder until he stopped laughing then he sat up. "Anyways, Angel, are you still playing the drums?" Mimi asked.  
"Yeah. I've been begging my parents for a drumset since my first lesson, but they won't get me one." Angel replied.  
"Why not?" Mark asked.  
"They say I'm never going to play it and all that stuff." Angel explained.  
"Man, when will they understand that you love to play drums?" Maureen asked. Angel shrugged.  
"No idea."  
"We could all save money and get you one for Christmas." Roger suggested.  
"Roger, I think that may be one of the, no THE smartest thing I've ever heard you say." Mimi praised Roger.  
"Thank you." Then one of the boho kids' teachers came hurrying over and whispered something to Mark.  
"Alright." Mark replied. Then he started gathering his things.  
"What's up Marky?" Maureen asked.  
"Mo, remember how I said I'm getting braces?" Mark asked.  
"Yeah."  
"Well, I get to see today when I have to get them. I may get them in seventh grade or eigth grade." Mark told her. "Why not now?" She asked.  
"I need to have lost all my baby teeth." Mark replied and he waved and left.

The group was allowed to walk home so Collins walked Mimi and Angel home. Roger decided it may be best to walk with Angel, Collins and Mimi. Maureen and Joanne walked together. Today, they decided to go to the park before going home. At the park they found a stray cat that took and immediate liking to Mimi. They played with it for a while before they headed home. The little black and white tabby followed Mimi home and when her parents didn't let it in, it stayed by the door. Angel who lived a few houses down from Mimi sat outside and watched the tiny cat. He called Mimi.  
"Hey Meems, I think you have a new friend." Angel told Mimi.  
"I know. I think I should just let the poor thing in." Mimi replied.  
"You can do whatever you want to do." Angel told her.  
"I think I'll let the poor thing in." Mimi told Angel.  
"Okay." Angel told her.  
"Well bye Angel. I have to let the cat in then I have to eat."  
"Alright. Later Meems." Angel replied. Mimi hung up and Angel decided to practice drumming. He worked really hard at it, but it seemed he had almost a gift for drumming, but he still practiced and it showed.

The alarm went off the next morning and Roger tried in vain to turn it off, in the end his efforts really were in vain for he had just fallen out of bed. "Well there's one way to get out of bed." He muttered and glared at the alarm clock. "I hate those things." Roger walked down the stairs in his pyjamas and got some food. His neck length hair was sticking up in every direction it possibly could and his green eyes were half closed. He tripped a few times on his way down the stairs and went to get some breakfast. He looked at the ceral boxes and selected the Cap'n'Crunch. He made it and sat down at the table to eat. After he was done he put his bowl in the sink and walked back upstairs. He pulled off the pyjamas and pulled on a pair of dark grey skinny jeans and his favorite t-shirt that said 'Rockstar' on it. He packed his guitar into its case and made sure to put extra picks in the case as well. Then he heard the alarm clock going off again.  
"How does that happen?" Roger asked. He went back to his room to find the alarm clock sitting there on his dresser, ringing. He picked it up and threw it at the floor, then at the wall and finally just as he gave up and threw his hands up in frustration, the alarm clock slipped and flew out the open window. "Oh great." Roger muttered. He ran over to the window just in time to see the clock fall to the pavement and hear someone exclaim in shock when the clock nearly hit them in the head before shattering on the pavement. Roger ducked back inside the window and fell over laughing.  
"Roger Davis!" Mrs. Davis called to her son.  
"Yeah Mom?" Roger asked.  
"What happened?" "I swear this wasn't my fault, but my alarm clock started ringing again after I turned it off and well when I got frusterated I threw my hands up and it slipped out of my hands and out the window." Roger explained.  
"I'm not sure I should beleive that."  
"I swear Mom. That alarm clock was faulty anyways so it really doesn't matter. It rang constantly when I didn't set it and now it's gone." Roger replied. He peered over the side of the window again. The shattered remains of the clock lay there. He ran a comb through his matted dirty blond hair and ran downstairs. He grabbed his backpack and ran out of the house before he could get yelled at for the alarm clock. He walked past the shattered clock and made sure to step on it and jump on it a few times. "Stupid clock." Roger muttered and continued on his way to school.

"Hey Roger!" Mark greeted, his blond hair nearly white in the bright sunlight. "Hey. My alarm clock flew out the window." Roger greeted.  
"Um, Rog, how did your clock fly out a window?" Mimi asked.  
"It was a faulty clock ya know, it was slippery so it just slipped out of my hands and flew out the window." Roger explained.  
"How?" Maureen asked. "'Cause that seems more like something I'd do." "Well it almost hit someone on the head." Roger told them.  
"If it had hit them, they could have sued." Joanne remarked.  
"Well too bad." Roger replied.  
"Will you tell us the story?" Angel asked.  
"Maybe." Roger told them.  
"Please?" Collins said.  
"Okay fine. After I'd woken up and stopped the alarm clock and eaten breakfast, I heard it ringing again. I went back upstairs and sure enough the stupid thing was ringing again. So I threw it at the floor and the wall then finally I just gave up. When I gave it up, I threw my hands up and it slipped so it just kinda flew." Roger explained. Maureen was laughing, Mark and Joanne had two priceless looks of a mix of confusion and shock on their faces, Angel and Collins were identical to Maureen, laughing, and Mimi was staring at him as if to say 'You seriously threw your clock out the window?' Then the bell rang.

"Alright class who here would like to share a story about an interesting thing that happened this morning?" Their teacher, Ms. Adams, asked. Roger raised his hand. "Okay, Roger, you can go up and share."  
"Here's how you can accidentaly brake a faulty alarm clock." Roger began. Ms. Adams gave him a look that said 'Is this going to be serious?' Roger continued. "This morning I managed to throw my alarm clock out of my window. I was trying to make it turn off, it was a very faulty clock, for the second time. So after throwing at the wall and at the floor, it just slipped out of my hands and flew out the window." Roger told the class, who all but the boho group stared back at him with strange looks on their faces. Roger gave a mock bow and sat down. It took Ms. Adams a second to comprehend what she'd just heard, but when she did, she walked back to the front of the room.  
"Anyone else?" She asked. No one raised their hands. "Really? Well, onto Math. Everyone take out the packets I gave you and open them to the third page."

"I hate Math." Roger muttered after the bell had rung. "I can only understand it if it's in music form." "I hate it too." Mark agreed.  
"You two do realize that Math is used daily right?" Joanne asked.  
"Just because it's used daily doesn't mean we love it." Collins pointed out.  
"Exactly." Angel agreed.  
"Yeah." Mimi spoke up. The group decided on trying to get a jumprope game going. Mimi always made sure to bring her jumprope and Roger would pack it in his guitar case, away from his guitar. Mark and Maureen partnered up and so did Angel, Collins and Mimi. Roger and Joanne held either side of the rope. Mimi went first. She got up to 35 jumps before she tripped. Angel went next, and got up to 36. Collins got 24 jumps, but that was mostly because Roger swung the rope up at a bad time and caused Collins to trip. Mark was even worse, he had 10 jumps and Maureen made it up to 33. They all decided that Angel, Mimi and Collins won because they got overall the highest scores. The bell rang and they ran inside. Roger carrying his guitar case and Mark with his camera.

"November. Roger is still working on a song. Mimi started to get a little bit of a cold and so did Angel. Collins is helping the two who are sick out, by taking their homework to them every day. Maureen is as weird as ever and now has a strange obsession with cows. Joanne helps keep Maureen from getting to hyper and me, Mark, I'm just the narrator. Like I always am. Fade out." Mark stopped filming. "Mark," Roger said. Mark turned to face his friend. "You never stop filming do you?"  
"No." "Well have you ever thought about not filming every second of our lives?" Roger asked.  
"I do that for the memory. Watch, I still have the tape of when April left and the tape from when me and you met Collins and Benny. I still have the tapes from the year Jonthan was here. You do remember Jonathan right?" Roger nodded.  
"Why do you bother saving all these things?"  
"What if one of us were to drop dead tomorrow? The films have the memory of what they were like." Mark told Roger.  
"None of us are going to drop dead randomly." Roger replied.  
"Never mind, you don't get it." Mark told Roger.  
"You're right I don't get it. Why don't you explain it?" Roger asked.  
"I already tried!" Mark exclaimed.  
"You did not!" Roger shot back.  
"Yes I did, but maybe you're just too stubborn to try to get it!" Mark retorted.  
"Mark, when have you ever really had ANY OTHER life besides your constant filming?" Roger asked, going back to the original topic.  
"I've had a life, but the fact is, I never had a friend on this planet until I met you!" Mark yelled. "All the other friends I ever had were false friends."  
"You call that a life? Mark, look around, all the other people around here, run, laugh and play! Why don't you?" Roger asked.  
"I do all those things! I thought you, my best friend would know that!" Mark yelled.  
"Really, I've only ever seen you act like your own age a few times. Otherwise you act really grown up!" Roger yelled back. "Forget it. All you care about is your work." "No I care about my friends!" Mark replied as Roger turned and walked away. *  
Mark and Roger refused to talk to each other for two weeks. Thier other friends all had to be messangers for them. Mimi, Maureen, Joanne, Angel or Collins all had to deliver messages to either Mark or Roger. It carried on like this until one day, their friends gave up being messangers. If Mark or Roger needed to tell the other something, they would have to do it themselves. Finally, they just made up.  
"Mark, listen, I'm sorry." Roger told the filmmaker.  
"I am too Rog. Which reminds me, what was so bad to make us nearly lose our friendship?" Mark asked.  
"I have no idea. All I know is that, we'll always be great friends." Roger told Mark. They were back to being best friends.  
**** It seemed that the year was going by too fast. Before long it was the last day of school.  
"May 21, the last day of school. The seven of us are happily waiting for next year because Benny should be back. For now we're all getting along fine." Mark narrated as he filmed everything.  
"Hey Marky!" Maureen yelled.  
"Hey Mo." Maureen came up to him and hugged him.  
"It's almost summer!" She yelled into his ear.  
"Mo, that was my ear!" Mark replied.  
"Oh well, knowing me you should've been used to that by now!" Maureen scolded playfully.  
"Hey guys ten seconds left!" Angel called.  
"TEN, NINE EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, FIVE ,FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE!" The group counted down together. Now they ran outside, all happy that the school year was over. Mark filmed as everyone wished each other happy summers, then after everyone calmed down and only after he had left, he said two simple words to fully conclude the school year.  
"Fade out." 


End file.
